For enhanced safety, the front seat shoulder belts of the Audi A6 e-tron are height-adjustable to accommodate a wide variety of driver and passenger heights. A better fit can prevent injuries and the increased comfort also encourages passengers to buckle up. The BMW i4 doesn’t offer height-adjustable seat belts.
Both the A6 e-tron and i4 have child safety locks to prevent children from opening the rear doors. The A6 e-tron 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 i4’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 A6 e-tron are reminded to check the back seat when a sensor determines the back seat is occupied. The i4 doesn’t offer a back seat reminder.
In a Vehicle-to-Vehicle Frontal Crash Prevention 2.0 test conducted by the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety (IIHS), the Audi A6 e-tron achieved a “Good” rating - the highest possible - for its performance in forward collision warning and automatic braking systems, demonstrating its excellent capabilities in preventing collisions. The BMW i4 has not been tested.
Earlier warning of stopped traffic, traffic signals, dangerous road conditions, weather, or accidents, can keep driver's safer and prevent crashes. The A6 e-tron has Car-to-X Services, a system that seamlessly communicates important warnings to the driver about impending danger, if they're available. The i4 doesn’t offer a system that can receive automated systems from infrastructure or other vehicles.
The Audi A6 e-tron offers an optional Top View Cameras and it also offers an optional rear camera washer to make backing always safe, regardless of road dirt or grime, while the BMW i4 doesn’t offer a camera washer, requiring manual cleaning.
Both the A6 e-tron and i4 have rear cross-traffic warning, but the A6 e-tron has Automatic Brake Activation (automatically applies the brakes) to better prevent a collision when backing near traffic. The i4’s Cross Traffic Warning doesn’t automatically brake.
Both the A6 e-tron and the i4 have standard driver and passenger frontal airbags, front side-impact airbags, driver and front passenger knee airbags, side-impact head airbags, front seatbelt pretensioners, four-wheel antilock brakes, 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, driver alert monitors and available around view monitors.
The Audi A6 e-tron has achieved the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety’s (IIHS) highest rating of “Top Safety Pick Plus” for the 2026 model year. This distinction is based on its exceptional performance in IIHS’ rigorous battery of safety tests. Specifically, it earned a “Good” rating in the latest, more stringent moderate overlap front crash test, a “Good” result in the updated side impact test, a “Good” score in the revised pedestrian crash prevention test, and a “Good” score in the revised vehicle-to-vehicle crash prevention test. The i4 is not even a standard “Top Safety Pick” for 2026.