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 Rav4 Plug-In Hybrid are reminded to check the back seat if they opened the rear door before starting out. The Q5 doesn’t offer a back seat reminder.
The Toyota Rav4 Plug-In Hybrid has a standard driver’s side knee airbag mounted low on the dashboard. The knee airbag helps prevent the driver from sliding under the seatbelts or the main frontal airbag; this keeps the driver better positioned during a collision for maximum protection. A knee airbag also helps keep the legs from striking the dashboard, preventing knee and leg injuries in the case of a serious frontal collision. The Q5 doesn’t offer knee airbags.
With its standard Pre-Collision System with Pedestrian Detection, the Toyota Rav4 Plug-In Hybrid is better at preventing collisions with pedestrians than the Audi Q5, according to the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety:
|
Rav4 Plug-In Hybrid |
Q5 |
Overall Evaluation |
GOOD |
MARGINAL |
|
Crossing Child - DAY |
|
12 MPH |
AVOIDED |
AVOIDED |
|
Crossing Adult - NIGHT |
|
12 MPH Brights |
AVOIDED |
-8 MPH |
12 MPH Low beams |
AVOIDED |
-1 MPH |
25 MPH Brights |
AVOIDED |
-13 MPH |
25 MPH Low beams |
AVOIDED |
-2 MPH |
|
Parallel Adult - NIGHT |
|
25 MPH Brights |
AVOIDED |
-2 MPH |
25 MPH Low beams |
AVOIDED |
No Slowing |
37 MPH Brights |
AVOIDED |
No Slowing |
Warning Issued-Brights |
1.8 sec |
No Warning |
37 MPH Low beams |
-20 MPH |
No Slowing |
Warning Issued-Low beams |
1 sec |
No Warning |
Both the Rav4 Plug-In Hybrid and the Q5 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, post-collision automatic braking systems, daytime running lights, lane departure warning systems, blind spot warning systems, rearview cameras, rear cross-path warning and available around view monitors.
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 Toyota Rav4 Plug-In Hybrid is safer than the Audi Q5:
|
Rav4 Plug-In Hybrid |
Q5 |
|
Front Seat |
|
STARS |
5 Stars |
5 Stars |
Chest Movement |
.5 inches |
.6 inches |
Abdominal Force |
76 lbs. |
98 lbs. |
Hip Force |
196 lbs. |
279 lbs. |
|
Rear Seat |
|
STARS |
5 Stars |
5 Stars |
HIC |
103 |
185 |
Spine Acceleration |
46 G’s |
53 G’s |
Hip Force |
457 lbs. |
817 lbs. |
New test not comparable to pre-2011 test results. More stars = Better. Lower test results = Better.
Side impacts caused 23% of all road fatalities in 2018, down from 29% in 2003, when the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety introduced its side barrier test. In order to continue improving vehicle safety, the IIHS has started using a more severe side impact test: 37 MPH (up from 31 MPH), with a 4180-pound barrier (up from 3300 pounds). The results of this newly developed test demonstrates that the Toyota Rav4 Plug-In Hybrid is safer than the Q5:
|
Rav4 Plug-In Hybrid |
Q5 |
Overall Evaluation |
ACCEPTABLE |
ACCEPTABLE |
Structure |
GOOD |
GOOD |
|
Driver Injury Measures |
|
Head/Neck |
GOOD |
GOOD |
Neck Tension |
134 lbs. |
245 lbs. |
Neck Compression |
67 lbs. |
89 lbs. |
Torso |
GOOD |
GOOD |
Shoulder Deflection |
.47 in |
.71 in |
Pelvis |
ACCEPTABLE |
ACCEPTABLE |
Pelvis Force |
1093 lbs. |
1116 lbs. |
Head Protection |
GOOD |
GOOD |
|
Passenger Injury Measures |
|
Head/Neck |
GOOD |
GOOD |
Torso |
GOOD |
ACCEPTABLE |
Shoulder Deflection |
.94 in |
1.73 in |
Shoulder Force |
290 lbs. |
402 lbs. |
Torso Max Deflection |
.83 in |
1.54 in |
Torso Deflection Rate |
8 MPH |
11 MPH |
Pelvis |
GOOD |
MARGINAL |
Pelvis Force |
692 lbs. |
1249 lbs. |
Instrumented handling tests conducted by the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration and analysis of its dimensions indicate that the Rav4 Plug-In Hybrid is 3.1% less likely to roll over than the Q5.