The RS 7’s pre-crash front seatbelts will tighten automatically in the event the vehicle detects an impending crash, improving protection against injury significantly. The Quattroporte doesn’t offer pre-crash pretensioners.
Both the RS 7 and Quattroporte have child safety locks to prevent children from opening the rear doors. The RS 7 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 Quattroporte’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 7 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 Quattroporte doesn’t offer a front passenger side knee airbag.
The RS 7 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 Quattroporte 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 7 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 Quattroporte doesn’t offer backup collision prevention brakes.
A passive infrared night vision system optional on the RS 7 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 Quattroporte doesn’t offer a night vision system.
Both the RS 7 and Quattroporte offer rear cross-traffic warning, but the RS 7 with Rear Cross-Traffic Assist also has Automatic Brake Activation (automatically applies the brakes) to better prevent a collision when backing near traffic. The Quattroporte’s Rear Cross Path doesn’t automatically brake.
The RS 7’s optional 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 Quattroporte doesn’t offer a driver alert monitor.
Both the RS 7 and the Quattroporte 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, around view monitors and available blind spot warning systems.
The Audi RS 7 weighs 630 to 683 pounds more than the Maserati Quattroporte. The NHTSA advises that heavier cars are much safer in collisions than their significantly lighter counterparts.