Improved headlights boost Audi Q5 to highest award
April 13, 2021
The 2021 Audi Q5 and Q5 Sportback, both midsize luxury SUVs, earn Top Safety Pick+ awards from the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety, thanks to improved headlights.
Photo courtesy of Volkswagen Group of America, Inc.
The higher of the Institute’s two awards, Top Safety Pick+ requires vehicles to earn good ratings in all six IIHS crashworthiness evaluations — the driver-side and passenger-side small overlap front, moderate overlap front, side, roof strength and head restraint tests. They must also earn advanced or superior ratings for both vehicle-to-vehicle and vehicle-to-pedestrian front crash prevention and come equipped with good or acceptable headlights across all trims and packages. For the lower-tier Top Safety Pick award, at least one good or acceptable headlight system must be available.
The 2020 Q5 missed out on an award because the two headlight systems available on that model both earned marginal ratings. For 2021, the headlights that come with the Prestige trim on both the Q5 and Q5 Sportback earn a good rating, while those installed with the Premium and Premium plus trims earn a rating of acceptable.
The camera-based Audi Pre Sense City front crash prevention system is standard on both the Q5 and Q5 Sportback. Audi Pre Sense Front, which uses radar as well as a camera, is also available.
Both systems earn superior ratings in the vehicle-to-vehicle evaluation and advanced ratings in the vehicle-to-pedestrian test.
The Q5 avoided hitting the pedestrian dummy in two out of six test scenarios — the 12 mph trials simulating a child crossing the road and the 25 mph trials mimicking an adult walking along the travel lane. In the four other scenarios, the vehicle slowed substantially to mitigate the force of impact.