source: Insurance Institute for Highway Safety, photos: Audi AG
The Audi A6, a large luxury car, and the Audi Q8, a new large SUV, each qualify for a 2019 safety award from the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety when equipped with specific headlights. The A6 qualifies for the highest designation of TOP SAFETY PICK+, while the Q8 earns the TOP SAFETY PICK award.
Both the A6 and Q8 earn good ratings in all six IIHS crashworthiness evaluations.
The two models also come with standard superior-rated front crash prevention systems. Both avoided collisions in IIHS track tests at 12 mph and 25 mph and have forward collision warning components that meet the criteria set by the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration.
The A6 is available with three headlight options, two of which earn good ratings in IIHS evaluations. Both good-rated options, which come on the Premium Plus and Prestige trims, make use of high-beam assist, a system that automatically switches between high beams and low beams, depending on the presence of other vehicles. The A6’s base headlight option earns only a marginal rating.
The Q8’s best-rated headlights — LED projectors with high-beam assist — come on the Prestige trim or as an option on the Premium Plus trim and earn an acceptable rating in IIHS tests. A good headlight rating would have elevated the Q8 to a TOP SAFETY PICK+. The Q8’s base headlights earn a poor rating, due largely to excessive glare from the low beams.
To qualify for a 2019 TOP SAFETY PICK award, a vehicle must earn good ratings in the driver-side small overlap front, moderate overlap front, side, roof strength and head restraint tests, as well as a good or acceptable rating in the passenger-side small overlap front test. It also needs an advanced or superior rating for front crash prevention and a good or acceptable headlight rating.
The first-tier “plus” award requires a good passenger-side rating and a good headlight rating.
