The S8’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 S8 and Quattroporte have child safety locks to prevent children from opening the rear doors. The S8 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 S8 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 S8 has a standard front seat center airbag, which deploys between the driver and front passenger, protecting them from injuries caused by striking each other in serious side impacts. The Quattroporte doesn’t offer front seat center airbags.
The S8 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.
Earlier warning of stopped traffic, traffic signals, dangerous road conditions, weather, or accidents, can keep driver's safer and prevent crashes. The S8 has Car-to-X Services, a system that seamlessly communicates important warnings to the driver about impending danger, if they're available. The Quattroporte doesn’t offer a system that can receive automated systems from infrastructure.
A passive infrared night vision system optional on the S8 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 and even aims one of the vehicle’s headlights in the direction of the person or object. The Quattroporte doesn’t offer a night vision system.
Both the S8 and Quattroporte offer rear cross-traffic warning, but the S8 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.
Both the S8 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 S8 weighs 893 pounds more than the Maserati Quattroporte. The NHTSA advises that heavier cars are much safer in collisions than their significantly lighter counterparts.