The A4’s pre-crash front seatbelts will tighten automatically in the event the vehicle detects an impending crash, improving protection against injury significantly. The Integra doesn’t offer pre-crash pretensioners.
Both the A4 and Integra have child safety locks to prevent children from opening the rear doors. The A4 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 Integra’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 A4 has a standard Audi Backguard System, which use a specially designed headrest to protect the driver and front passenger from whiplash. During a rear-end collision, the Audi Backguard System moves the headrests forward to prevent neck and spine injuries. At the same time the pretensioning seatbelts fire, removing slack from the belts. The Integra doesn’t offer a whiplash protection system.
The A4 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 Integra 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.
The A4 has all-wheel drive to maximize traction under poor conditions, especially in ice and snow. The Integra doesn’t offer all-wheel drive.
When descending a steep, off-road slope, the A4’s standard Hill Descent Control allows you to creep down safely. The Integra doesn’t offer Hill Descent Control.
The A4 Premium Plus/Prestige has a standard Top and Corner View Cameras to allow the driver to see objects all around the vehicle on a screen. The Integra only offers a rear monitor and front and rear parking sensors that beep or flash a light. That doesn’t help with obstacles to the sides.
Both the A4 and Integra offer rear cross-traffic warning, but the A4 with Rear Cross-Traffic Assist also has Automatic Brake Activation (automatically applies the brakes) to better prevent a collision when backing near traffic. The Integra’s Rear Cross Traffic Monitor doesn’t automatically brake.
Both the A4 and the Integra have standard driver and passenger frontal airbags, front side-impact airbags, driver and front passenger knee airbags, side-impact head airbags, front and rear seatbelt pretensioners, height adjustable front shoulder belts, plastic fuel tanks, four-wheel antilock brakes, traction control, electronic stability systems to prevent skidding, crash mitigating brakes, daytime running lights, lane departure warning systems, rearview cameras and available blind spot warning systems.
The Audi A4 weighs 463 to 609 pounds more than the Acura Integra. The NHTSA advises that heavier cars are much safer in collisions than their significantly lighter counterparts.
The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration does side impact tests on new vehicles. In this test, which crashes the vehicle into a flat barrier at 38.5 MPH, results indicate that the Audi A4 is safer than the Acura Integra:
|
A4 |
Integra |
|
Front Seat |
|
STARS |
5 Stars |
5 Stars |
Abdominal Force |
219 lbs. |
226 lbs. |
|
Rear Seat |
|
STARS |
5 Stars |
5 Stars |
Spine Acceleration |
56 G’s |
60 G’s |
New test not comparable to pre-2011 test results. More stars = Better. Lower test results = Better.