The Q8 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 Solterra doesn’t offer pre-crash pretensioners.
Both the Q8 e-tron Sportback and Solterra have child safety locks to prevent children from opening the rear doors. The Q8 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 Solterra’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.
Earlier warning of stopped traffic, traffic signals, dangerous road conditions, weather, or accidents, can keep driver's safer and prevent crashes. The Q8 e-tron Sportback has Car-to-X Services, a system that seamlessly communicates important warnings to the driver about impending danger, if they're available. The Solterra doesn’t offer a system that can receive automated systems from infrastructure.
Both the Q8 e-tron Sportback and the Solterra have standard driver and passenger frontal airbags, front side-impact airbags, driver and front passenger knee 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, post-collision automatic braking systems, daytime running lights, lane departure warning systems, blind spot warning systems, rearview cameras, rear cross-path warning and available around view monitors.
The Audi Q8 e-tron Sportback weighs 1293 to 1433 pounds more than the Subaru Solterra. 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 Q8 e-tron Sportback is safer than the Subaru Solterra:
|
Q8 e-tron Sportback |
Solterra |
|
Driver |
|
STARS |
4 Stars |
4 Stars |
Neck Injury Risk |
23% |
35.3% |
Leg Forces (l/r) |
137/335 lbs. |
469/617 lbs. |
New test not comparable to pre-2011 test results. More stars = Better. Lower test results = Better.
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 Q8 e-tron Sportback is safer than the Subaru Solterra:
|
Q8 e-tron Sportback |
Solterra |
|
Front Seat |
|
STARS |
5 Stars |
5 Stars |
HIC |
44 |
103 |
Hip Force |
236 lbs. |
237 lbs. |
|
Rear Seat |
|
STARS |
5 Stars |
5 Stars |
HIC |
123 |
223 |
Spine Acceleration |
44 G’s |
46 G’s |
Hip Force |
579 lbs. |
609 lbs. |
|
Into Pole |
|
STARS |
5 Stars |
5 Stars |
Max Damage Depth |
8 inches |
9 inches |
HIC |
279 |
315 |
Hip Force |
631 lbs. |
899 lbs. |
New test not comparable to pre-2011 test results. More stars = Better. Lower test results = Better.
Instrumented handling tests conducted by the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration and analysis of its dimensions indicate that the Q8 e-tron Sportback, with its five-star roll-over rating, is 2.4% less likely to roll over than the Solterra, which received a four-star rating.