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 Charger are reminded to check the back seat. The S5 doesn’t offer a back seat reminder.
Over 200 people are killed each year when backed over by motor vehicles. The Charger has standard Rear Park Assist with Stop that uses rear sensors to monitor for objects to the rear and automatically applies the brakes to prevent a collision. The S5 doesn’t offer automatic braking for stationary objects directly to the rear.
The Charger has a standard blind spot warning system that uses sensors to alert the driver to objects in the vehicle’s blind spots where the side view mirrors don’t reveal them. Only the S5 Premium Plus/Prestige offers a blind spot warning system.
To help make backing out of a parking space safer, the Charger has standard Rear Cross Path Detection, helping the driver avoid collisions. Only the S5 Premium Plus/Prestige offers Rear Cross-Traffic Assist.
The Charger’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 S5 doesn’t offer a driver alert monitor.
Both the Charger and the S5 have standard driver and passenger frontal airbags, front side-impact airbags, driver knee airbags, side-impact head airbags, front and rear seatbelt pretensioners, four-wheel antilock brakes, all wheel drive, traction control, electronic stability systems to prevent skidding, crash mitigating brakes, daytime running lights, lane departure warning systems, rearview cameras and available around view monitors.
The Dodge Charger weighs 1671 to 1991 pounds more than the Audi S5. The NHTSA advises that heavier cars are much safer in collisions than their significantly lighter counterparts.