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 Hummer EV SUV are reminded to check the back seat if they opened the rear door before starting out. The Q8 e-tron Sportback doesn’t offer a back seat reminder.
Over 200 people are killed each year when backed over by motor vehicles. The Hummer EV SUV has standard Reverse Automatic Braking that uses rear sensors to monitor for objects to the rear and automatically applies the brakes to prevent a collision. The Q8 e-tron Sportback doesn’t offer automatic braking for stationary objects directly to the rear.
The Hummer EV SUV’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 Q8 e-tron Sportback doesn’t offer a driver alert monitor.
Both the Hummer EV SUV and the Q8 e-tron Sportback have standard driver and passenger frontal airbags, front side-impact airbags, side-impact head airbags, front seatbelt pretensioners, height adjustable front shoulder belts, 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, blind spot warning systems, rearview cameras and rear cross-path warning.
The GMC Hummer EV SUV weighs 3102 pounds more than the Audi Q8 e-tron Sportback. The NHTSA advises that heavier vehicles are much safer in collisions than their significantly lighter counterparts.