For enhanced safety, the front and rear seat shoulder belts of the Audi RS 6 have pretensioners to tighten the seatbelts and eliminate dangerous slack in the event of a collision. The Dodge Durango SRT doesn’t offer pretensioners for its second-row seat belts.
The RS 6’s pre-crash front seatbelts will tighten automatically in the event the vehicle detects an impending crash, improving protection against injury significantly. The Durango SRT doesn’t offer pre-crash pretensioners.
Both the RS 6 and Durango SRT have child safety locks to prevent children from opening the rear doors. The RS 6 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 Durango SRT’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.
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 RS 6 are reminded to check the back seat if they opened the rear door before starting out. The Durango SRT doesn’t offer a back seat reminder.
The Audi RS 6 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 Durango SRT doesn’t offer a front passenger side knee airbag.
The RS 6 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 Durango SRT 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 RS 6 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 Durango SRT doesn’t offer backup collision prevention brakes.
When descending a steep, off-road slope, the RS 6’s standard Hill Descent Control allows you to creep down safely. The Durango SRT doesn’t offer Hill Descent Control.
Earlier warning of stopped traffic, traffic signals, dangerous road conditions, weather, or accidents, can keep driver's safer and prevent crashes. The RS 6 has Car-to-X Services, a system that seamlessly communicates important warnings to the driver about impending danger, if they're available. The Durango SRT doesn’t offer a system that can receive automated systems from infrastructure.
A passive infrared night vision system optional on the RS 6 helps the driver to more easily detect people, animals or other objects in front of the vehicle at night. Using an infrared camera to detect heat, the system then displays the image on a monitor in the dashboard. The Durango SRT doesn’t offer a night vision system.
The RS 6’s standard lane departure warning system alerts a temporarily inattentive driver when the vehicle begins to leave its lane and gently nudges the vehicle back towards its lane. A lane departure warning system costs extra on the Durango SRT.
The RS 6 has a standard Top and Corner View Cameras to allow the driver to see objects all around the vehicle on a screen. The Durango SRT 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 RS 6 and Durango SRT offer rear cross-traffic warning, but the RS 6 with Rear Cross-Traffic Assist also has Automatic Brake Activation (automatically applies the brakes) to better prevent a collision when backing near traffic. The Durango SRT’s Rear Cross Path Detection doesn’t automatically brake.
The RS 6’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 Durango SRT doesn’t offer a driver alert monitor.
Both the RS 6 and the Durango SRT have standard driver and passenger frontal airbags, front side-impact airbags, driver knee airbags, side-impact head airbags, height adjustable front shoulder belts, four-wheel antilock brakes, all wheel drive, traction control, electronic stability systems to prevent skidding, daytime running lights, rearview cameras and available blind spot warning systems.
The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration does 35 MPH front crash tests on new vehicles. In this test, results indicate that the Audi RS 6 is safer than the Dodge Durango SRT:
|
RS 6 |
Durango SRT |
|
Driver |
|
STARS |
5 Stars |
3 Stars |
Neck Injury Risk |
30% |
34% |
|
Passenger |
|
STARS |
4 Stars |
4 Stars |
Chest Compression |
.5 inches |
.8 inches |
New test not comparable to pre-2011 test results. More stars = Better. Lower test results = Better.
A significantly tougher test than their original offset frontal crash test, the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety does 40 MPH small overlap frontal offset crash tests. In this test, where only 25% of the total width of the vehicle is struck, results indicate that the Audi RS 6 is safer than the Durango SRT:
|
RS 6 |
Durango SRT |
Overall Evaluation |
GOOD |
MARGINAL |
Restraints |
GOOD |
ACCEPTABLE |
Head Neck Evaluation |
GOOD |
GOOD |
Peak Head Forces |
0 G’s |
0 G’s |
Steering Column Movement Rearward |
0 cm |
9 cm |
Chest Evaluation |
GOOD |
GOOD |
Hip & Thigh Evaluation |
GOOD |
ACCEPTABLE |
Femur Force R/L |
1.2/1.3 kN |
5.3/2.5 kN |
Hip & Thigh Injury Risk R/L |
0%/0% |
6%/0% |
Lower Leg Evaluation |
ACCEPTABLE |
POOR |
Tibia index R/L |
.38/.47 |
1.53/.59 |
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 6 is safer than the Dodge Durango SRT:
|
RS 6 |
Durango SRT |
|
Front Seat |
|
STARS |
5 Stars |
5 Stars |
Chest Movement |
.9 inches |
1.1 inches |
|
Into Pole |
|
STARS |
5 Stars |
5 Stars |
Max Damage Depth |
13 inches |
14 inches |
Spine Acceleration |
39 G’s |
43 G’s |
Hip Force |
514 lbs. |
714 lbs. |
New test not comparable to pre-2011 test results. More stars = Better. Lower test results = Better.