Both the Q8 e-tron Sportback and EQB have child safety locks to prevent children from opening the rear doors. The Q8 e-tron Sportback has power child safety locks, allowing the driver to activate and deactivate them from the driver's seat and to know when they're engaged. The EQB’s child locks have to be individually engaged at each rear door with a manual switch. The driver can’t know the status of the locks without opening the doors and checking them.
The Audi Q8 e-tron Sportback 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 EQB doesn’t offer a front passenger side knee airbag.
The Q8 e-tron Sportback’s standard pretensioning seatbelts also sense rear collisions and remove slack from the seatbelts to help protect the occupants from whiplash and other injuries. The EQB doesn’t offer a whiplash protection system.
The Q8 e-tron Sportback has a standard Secondary Collision Brake Assist, which automatically applies the brakes in the event of a crash to help prevent secondary collisions and prevent further injuries. The EQB doesn’t offer a post collision braking system: in the event of a collision that triggers the airbags, more collisions are possible without the protection of airbags that may have already deployed.
To provide maximum traction and stability on all roads, All-Wheel Drive is standard on the Q8 e-tron Sportback. But it costs extra on the EQB.
Earlier warning of stopped traffic, traffic signals, dangerous road conditions, weather, or accidents, can keep driver's safer and prevent crashes. The Q8 e-tron Sportback has Car-to-X Services, a system that seemlesly communicates important warnings to the driver about impending danger, if they're available. The EQB doesn’t offer a system that can receive automated systems from infrastructure.
The Q8 e-tron Sportback’s standard lane departure warning system alerts a temporarily inattentive driver when the vehicle begins to leave its lane. A lane departure warning system costs extra on the EQB.
Both the Q8 e-tron Sportback and the EQB have standard driver and passenger frontal airbags, front side-impact airbags, driver knee airbags, side-impact head airbags, front seatbelt pretensioners, height adjustable front shoulder belts, four-wheel antilock brakes, traction control, electronic stability systems to prevent skidding, crash mitigating brakes, daytime running lights, blind spot warning systems, rearview cameras, rear cross-path warning and available around view monitors.
The Audi Q8 e-tron Sportback weighs 1080 to 1301 pounds more than the Mercedes EQB. The NHTSA advises that heavier vehicles are much safer in collisions than their significantly lighter counterparts.
The Audi Q8 e-tron Sportback achieved a “Top Safety Pick” rating from the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety (IIHS) for the 2024 model year. This recognition was based on its impressive performance in the small overlap frontal crash test, updated side impact crash test, headlight evaluations, and pedestrian crash prevention testing. The EQB has not yet been evaluated by the IIHS for 2024.