The Q4 e-tron Sportback’s pre-crash front seatbelts will tighten automatically in the event the vehicle detects an impending crash, improving protection against injury significantly. The RDX doesn’t offer pre-crash pretensioners.
Both the Q4 e-tron Sportback and RDX have child safety locks to prevent children from opening the rear doors. The Q4 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 RDX’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 Q4 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 RDX 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.
Over 200 people are killed each year when backed over by motor vehicles. The Q4 e-tron Sportback has a standard Maneuver Assist that uses rear sensors to monitor for objects to the rear and automatically applies the brakes to prevent a collision. The RDX doesn’t offer backup collision prevention brakes.
Both the Q4 e-tron Sportback and RDX have rear cross-traffic warning, but the Q4 e-tron Sportback has Automatic Brake Activation (automatically applies the brakes) to better prevent a collision when backing near traffic. The RDX’s Rear Cross Traffic Monitor doesn’t automatically brake.
Both the Q4 e-tron Sportback and the RDX 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, rear cross-path warning and available around view monitors.
The Audi Q4 e-tron Sportback weighs 616 to 836 pounds more than the Acura RDX. The NHTSA advises that heavier vehicles are much safer in collisions than their significantly lighter counterparts.
The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration does 35 MPH front crash tests on new vehicles. In this test, results indicate that the Audi Q4 e-tron Sportback is safer than the Acura RDX:
|
|
Q4 e-tron Sportback |
RDX |
|
|
Driver |
|
| STARS |
5 Stars |
4 Stars |
| HIC |
165 |
300 |
| Neck Stress |
173 lbs. |
262 lbs. |
| Leg Forces (l/r) |
72/157 lbs. |
328/464 lbs. |
|
|
Passenger |
|
| STARS |
4 Stars |
4 Stars |
| HIC |
264 |
353 |
| Leg Forces (l/r) |
14/25 lbs. |
362/441 lbs. |
New test not comparable to pre-2011 test results. More stars = Better. Lower test results = Better.