For enhanced safety, the front and rear seat shoulder belts of the Honda Accord have pretensioners to tighten the seatbelts and eliminate dangerous slack in the event of a collision and force limiters to limit the pressure the belts will exert on the passengers. The Infiniti Q50 doesn’t offer pretensioners for its rear seat belts.
In the past twenty years hundreds of infants and young children have died after being left in vehicles, usually by accident. When turning the vehicle off, drivers of the Accord are reminded to check the back seat if they opened the rear door before starting out. The Q50 doesn’t offer a back seat reminder.
The Honda Accord has standard driver and front passenger side knee airbags mounted low on the dashboard. These airbags helps prevent the driver and front passenger from sliding under their seatbelts or the main frontal airbags; this keeps them better positioned during a collision for maximum protection. Knee airbags also help keep the legs from striking the dashboard, preventing knee and leg injuries in the case of a serious frontal collision. The Q50 doesn’t offer knee airbags.
With its standard Collision Mitigation Braking System, the Honda Accord is better at preventing collisions with pedestrians than the Infiniti Q50, according to the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety:
|
Accord |
Q50 |
Overall Evaluation |
ACCEPTABLE |
POOR |
|
Crossing Child - DAY |
|
12 MPH |
AVOIDED |
No Slowing |
25 MPH |
-23 MPH |
No Slowing |
|
Crossing Adult - NIGHT |
|
12 MPH Brights |
AVOIDED |
No Slowing |
12 MPH Low beams |
-3 MPH |
No Slowing |
25 MPH Brights |
AVOIDED |
No Slowing |
25 MPH Low beams |
No Slowing |
No Slowing |
|
Parallel Adult - NIGHT |
|
25 MPH Brights |
AVOIDED |
No Slowing |
25 MPH Low beams |
-19 MPH |
No Slowing |
37 MPH Brights |
AVOIDED |
No Slowing |
Warning Issued-Brights |
2.5 sec |
No Warning |
37 MPH Low beams |
No Slowing |
No Slowing |
The Accord’s driver alert monitor detects an inattentive driver then sounds a warning and suggests a break. According to the NHTSA, drivers who fall asleep cause about 100,000 crashes and 1500 deaths a year. The Q50 doesn’t offer a driver alert monitor.
Both the Accord and the Q50 have standard driver and passenger frontal airbags, front side-impact airbags, side-impact head airbags, height adjustable front shoulder belts, four-wheel antilock brakes, traction control, electronic stability systems to prevent skidding, crash mitigating brakes, daytime running lights, lane departure warning systems, rearview cameras, available blind spot warning systems, rear parking sensors and rear cross-path warning.
The Honda Accord has achieved the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety’s (IIHS) highest rating of “Top Safety Pick Plus” for the 2024 model year. This distinction is based on its exceptional performance in IIHS’ rigorous battery of safety tests. Specifically, it earned a “Good” rating in the latest, more stringent moderate overlap front crash test, a “Good” result in the updated side impact test, and an “Acceptable” score in the revised pedestrian crash prevention test. The Q50 is not even a standard “Top Safety Pick” for 2024.