For enhanced safety, the front and rear seat shoulder belts of the Toyota Rav4 Plug-In Hybrid have pretensioners to tighten the seatbelts and eliminate dangerous slack in the event of a collision and force limiters to limit the pressure the belts will exert on the passengers. The Audi Q5 doesn’t offer pretensioners for its rear seat belts.
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 Rav4 Plug-In Hybrid are reminded to check the back seat if they opened the rear door before starting out. The Q5 doesn’t offer a back seat reminder.
The Toyota Rav4 Plug-In Hybrid has a standard driver’s side knee airbag mounted low on the dashboard. The knee airbag helps prevent the driver from sliding under the seatbelts or the main frontal airbag; this keeps the driver better positioned during a collision for maximum protection. A knee airbag also helps keep the legs from striking the dashboard, preventing knee and leg injuries in the case of a serious frontal collision. The Q5 doesn’t offer knee airbags.
With its standard Pre-Collision System with Pedestrian Detection, the Toyota Rav4 Plug-In Hybrid is better at preventing collisions with pedestrians than the Audi Q5, according to the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety:
|
Rav4 Plug-In Hybrid |
Q5 |
Overall Evaluation |
GOOD |
MARGINAL |
|
Crossing Child - DAY |
|
12 MPH |
AVOIDED |
AVOIDED |
|
Crossing Adult - NIGHT |
|
12 MPH Brights |
AVOIDED |
-8 MPH |
12 MPH Low beams |
AVOIDED |
-1 MPH |
25 MPH Brights |
AVOIDED |
-13 MPH |
25 MPH Low beams |
AVOIDED |
-2 MPH |
|
Parallel Adult - NIGHT |
|
25 MPH Brights |
AVOIDED |
-2 MPH |
25 MPH Low beams |
AVOIDED |
No Slowing |
37 MPH Brights |
AVOIDED |
No Slowing |
Warning Issued-Brights |
1.8 sec |
No Warning |
37 MPH Low beams |
-20 MPH |
No Slowing |
Warning Issued-Low beams |
1 sec |
No Warning |
In a Vehicle-to-Vehicle Frontal Crash Prevention 2.0 test conducted by the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety (IIHS), the Toyota Rav4 Plug-In Hybrid achieved a “Acceptable” rating - the second highest possible - for its performance in forward collision warning and automatic braking systems, demonstrating its excellent capabilities in preventing collisions. The Audi Q5 has not been tested.
Both the Rav4 Plug-In Hybrid and the Q5 have standard driver and passenger frontal airbags, front side-impact airbags, side-impact head airbags, 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 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, results indicate that the Toyota Rav4 Plug-In Hybrid is safer than the Audi Q5:
|
Rav4 Plug-In Hybrid |
Q5 |
|
Front Seat |
|
STARS |
5 Stars |
5 Stars |
Chest Movement |
.5 inches |
.6 inches |
Abdominal Force |
76 lbs. |
98 lbs. |
Hip Force |
196 lbs. |
279 lbs. |
|
Rear Seat |
|
STARS |
5 Stars |
5 Stars |
HIC |
103 |
185 |
Spine Acceleration |
46 G’s |
53 G’s |
Hip Force |
457 lbs. |
817 lbs. |
New test not comparable to pre-2011 test results. More stars = Better. Lower test results = Better.
Side impacts caused 23% of all road fatalities in 2018, down from 29% in 2003, when the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety introduced its side barrier test. In order to continue improving vehicle safety, the IIHS has started using a more severe side impact test: 37 MPH (up from 31 MPH), with a 4180-pound barrier (up from 3300 pounds). The results of this newly developed test demonstrates that the Toyota Rav4 Plug-In Hybrid is safer than the Q5:
|
Rav4 Plug-In Hybrid |
Q5 |
Overall Evaluation |
ACCEPTABLE |
ACCEPTABLE |
Structure |
GOOD |
GOOD |
|
Driver Injury Measures |
|
Head/Neck |
GOOD |
GOOD |
Neck Tension |
134 lbs. |
245 lbs. |
Neck Compression |
67 lbs. |
89 lbs. |
Torso |
GOOD |
GOOD |
Shoulder Deflection |
.47 in |
.71 in |
Pelvis |
ACCEPTABLE |
ACCEPTABLE |
Pelvis Force |
1093 lbs. |
1116 lbs. |
Head Protection |
GOOD |
GOOD |
|
Passenger Injury Measures |
|
Head/Neck |
GOOD |
GOOD |
Torso |
GOOD |
ACCEPTABLE |
Shoulder Deflection |
.94 in |
1.73 in |
Shoulder Force |
290 lbs. |
402 lbs. |
Torso Max Deflection |
.83 in |
1.54 in |
Torso Deflection Rate |
8 MPH |
11 MPH |
Pelvis |
GOOD |
MARGINAL |
Pelvis Force |
692 lbs. |
1249 lbs. |
Instrumented handling tests conducted by the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration and analysis of its dimensions indicate that the Rav4 Plug-In Hybrid is 3.1% less likely to roll over than the Q5.