IIHS safety group gives highest ratings to 2020 Audi A6, Q8
THE INSURANCE Institute for Highway Safety (IIHS) in the United States awarded the 2020 Audi A6 the highest Top Safety Pick+ and the 2020 Audi Q8 the Top Safety Pick awards as these excelled in the safety group’s testing. The two vehicles obtained top “Good” ratings in all six IIHS crashworthiness performance evaluations, and achieved “Superior” grades for front-crash prevention tests.
In August last year, the Audi E-tron became the first pure battery-electric vehicle to be named an IIHS Top Safety Pick+.
The independent, nonprofit organization ultimately aims to “reduce losses from crashes by determining the safety level of vehicles, then rating these.” Two aspects of a vehicle’s safety are tested: Crashworthiness, or how well a vehicle protects its occupants in a crash; and crash avoidance and mitigation, which considers the technologies in a vehicle that can prevent or lessen the severity of a crash.
Six crash tests are performed: moderate overlap front, driver-side small overlap front, passenger-side small overlap front, side, roof strength, and head restraints and seats. When doing its front crash prevention ratings, the IIHS conducts low- and moderate-speed track tests of vehicles with automatic braking systems.
Audi reported that the 2020 Audi A6 and Audi Q8 performed well in the IIHS tests owing to the vehicles’ “full suite of standard and available driver assistance features” such as the Audi Pre-Sense, which can prepare the cars for impact. This closes side windows and panoramic sunroof (in the case of the Audi Q8), pre-tensions front seatbelts, and provides visual and acoustic warnings to help alert the driver to potentially hazardous situations or an imminent crash. “Another feature contributing to the models’ top safety ratings is the rear cross-traffic assist, which helps drivers when they are reversing out of a perpendicular parking space,” continued the release.
The 2020 Audi A6 is powered by a 2.0-liter TFSI, inline-four, turbocharged, gasoline engine fitted with a mild hybrid system composed of a belt alternator starter (BAS) and lithium-ion batteries. The system delivers 245hp and 370Nm, realized through an Audi S tronic seven-speed dual-clutch transmission.
Meanwhile, a turbocharged, 3.0-liter, six-cylinder TFSI gasoline engine serving up 340hp and 500Nm motivates the 2020 Audi Q8. It is similarly fitted with a mild hybrid system. The driver accesses the performance through an eight-speed Tiptronic transmission; and the vehicle features a Quattro permanent all-wheel drive unit.
The 2020 Audi A6 and Audi Q8 are available at Audi dealerships on EDSA Greenhills; in Bonifacio Global City; Westgate, Alabang; and SM City Seaside Cebu. For more information, call 0917-813-9064, 0917-806-2946, or 0917-935-4111.
