The RS 5 Sportback’s pre-crash front seatbelts will tighten automatically in the event the vehicle detects an impending crash, improving protection against injury significantly. The WRX doesn’t offer pre-crash pretensioners.
Both the RS 5 Sportback and WRX have child safety locks to prevent children from opening the rear doors. The RS 5 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 WRX’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 Audi RS 5 Sportback has standard driver and front passenger side knee airbags mounted low on the dashboard. These airbags helps prevent the driver and front passenger from sliding under their seatbelts or the main frontal airbags; this keeps them better positioned during a collision for maximum protection. Knee airbags also help keep the legs from striking the dashboard, preventing knee and leg injuries in the case of a serious frontal collision. The WRX doesn’t offer a front passenger side knee airbag.
The RS 5 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 WRX 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.
When descending a steep, off-road slope, the RS 5 Sportback’s standard Hill Descent Control allows you to creep down safely. The WRX doesn’t offer Hill Descent Control.
The RS 5 Sportback offers an optional Top and Corner View Cameras to allow the driver to see objects all around the vehicle on a screen. The WRX only offers a rear monitor and rear parking sensors that beep or flash a light. That doesn’t help with obstacles to the front or sides.
Both the RS 5 Sportback and WRX offer rear cross-traffic warning, but the RS 5 Sportback with Rear Cross-Traffic Assist also has Automatic Brake Activation (automatically applies the brakes) to better prevent a collision when backing near traffic. The WRX’s Rear Cross Traffic Alert doesn’t automatically brake.
Both the RS 5 Sportback and the WRX have standard driver and passenger frontal airbags, front side-impact airbags, driver knee airbags, side-impact head airbags, front and rear 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, rearview cameras and available blind spot warning systems.
The Audi RS 5 Sportback weighs 510 to 750 pounds more than the Subaru WRX. 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 and into a post at 20 MPH, results indicate that the Audi RS 5 Sportback is safer than the Subaru WRX:
|
RS 5 Sportback |
WRX |
|
Front Seat |
|
STARS |
5 Stars |
5 Stars |
Hip Force |
308 lbs. |
388 lbs. |
|
Rear Seat |
|
STARS |
5 Stars |
5 Stars |
HIC |
277 |
357 |
Spine Acceleration |
56 G’s |
66 G’s |
Hip Force |
777 lbs. |
839 lbs. |
|
Into Pole |
|
STARS |
5 Stars |
5 Stars |
Max Damage Depth |
12 inches |
14 inches |
Spine Acceleration |
47 G’s |
48 G’s |
Hip Force |
666 lbs. |
819 lbs. |
New test not comparable to pre-2011 test results. More stars = Better. Lower test results = Better.