Audi SUVs reap 2023 IIHS award

Safest fleet of SUVs. The description is what every vehicle brand wants to be associated with. This year, Audi was given the highly-regarded award for several of its SUV models, by the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety, which is the leading automotive safety organization in the United States.

In a report by the IIHS, the following are the Audi models that received the IIHS 2023 Top Safety Pick+ award: The 2023 Audi Q4 e-tron luxury full electric compact SUV; 2023 Audi Q4 Sportback e-tron luxury full electric compact SUV; 2024 Audi Q8 e-tron luxury 100-percent electric full-size SUV; 2024 Audi Q8 Sportback e-tron luxury 100-percent electric full-size SUV; 2023 Audi Q8 luxury full-size SUV.

Meanwhile, these two models were able to get the 2023 Top Safety Pick award: The 2023 Audi Q5 luxury midsize SUV and the 2023 Audi Q5 Sportback luxury midsize SUV.

The IIHS announced last February that it was bolstering its requirements for its safety award by including an updated side crash test that will involve 82 percent more energy than the original test as well as a new nighttime vehicle-to-pedestrian front crash prevention test.

And with Audi being the award recipient in the IIHS's two safety categories, it all the more made the German automobile company's achievement significant.

When a vehicle is able to bag the Top Safety Pick+ award under the IIHS's more stringent qualifications, it means that it has earned "Good" ratings in the driver- and passenger-side small front overlap and original moderate overlap front collision tests, and is equipped with "Acceptable" or "Good" headlights across all trims.

It also has a "Good" rating in the updated side impact test, and "Advanced" or "Superior" rating in both the daytime and nighttime pedestrian tests.

Same strict test requirements

Electric vehicles like the Audi Q8 e-tron underwent the same strict test requirements as models with conventional engines.

Per Audi, the standard crash avoidance systems on the Q8 e-tron SUV and Q8 e-tron Sportback garnered a "Superior" rating for daytime use and an "Advanced" rating for nighttime use. All four of Audi's 100-percent electric SUV models got the highest 2023 IIHS safety award.

For Top Safety Pick, it translates to having an "acceptable" or "good" rating in the updated side test, and a front crash prevention system that was able to achieve an "advanced" or "superior" rating in the daytime vehicle-to-pedestrian evaluation.

In previous evaluations, the distinguished Arlington, Virginia-based IIHS (that is dedicated to helping reduce motoring-related injuries and deaths) also gave the Audi Q3 and Q5 its highest safety acknowledgment.

The Q3 luxury compact SUV, Q3 Sportback luxury SUV, Q5 luxury midsize SUV, Q7 luxury seven-seater SUV, and the Q8 luxury full-size SUV are available at all showrooms of Audi Philippines. Also offered alongside these models are the 100-percent electric Audi Q8 e-tron 55 SUV, Q8 e-tron 50 SUV and Q8 e-tron Sportback that were all launched last August.

According to Audi Philippines, customer safety has always been its top priority. It is more than proud of the efforts of its engineers and designers in continuously enhancing Audi's safety technology which has earned the company praise and accolades from independent industry firms.