Audi earns more IIHS 2025 TOP SAFETY PICK+ awards than any luxury brand as all-new Audi Q5, Q5 Sportback and A6 Sportback e-tron join recipient list

The all-new 2025 A6 Sportback e-tron as well as the all-new 2025 Audi Q5 and Q5 Sportback (for models produced after July 2025) have all earned the 2025 TOP SAFETY PICK+ award, the highest accolade from the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety (IIHS). Seven Audi models have now received the 2025 IIHS TOP SAFETY PICK+ award, the most of any luxury brand. Joining the Audi A5, Q7, Q6 e-tron, and Q6 Sportback e-tron, the two Audi Q5 SUVs and A6 Sportback e-tron electric sedan each earned this distinction by meeting new 2025 criteria focused on rear-passenger safety during the IIHS moderate-overlap front collision test. Both of the new Audi platforms – Premium Platform Combustion (PPC) for combustion offerings including the Q5 lineup; and Premium Platform Electric (PPE) which underpins electric vehicles including the A6 Sportback e-tron – add this respected third-party acknowledgement to their extensive list of standard and available safety-enhancing features.

IIHS made earning its highest TOP SAFETY PICK+ award more difficult for 2025 by altering the criteria behind its moderate-overlap front test, which simulates a head-on collision in which the test vehicle strikes a vehicle of equal size and weight at 40 mph with 40% of their front widths overlapping. The new test includes an additional test dummy better representing smaller occupants positioned in the second row behind the driver and uses new metrics that focus on the injuries most frequently seen in rear-seat occupants. The all-new Q5, Q5 Sportback, and A6 Sportback e-tron all received the top “good” rating in the updated test, which is required to qualify for the highest “plus” rating.

To garner the 2025 TOP SAFETY PICK+ award earned by the trio of all-new Audi models, vehicles must also earn “good” ratings in the small overlap front and updated side collision tests, as well as an “acceptable” or “good” rating in the pedestrian front crash prevention evaluation, which gauges performance in both daytime and nighttime conditions. All three Audi models received a “good” rating in each of these requirements.

All trims must also be equipped with acceptable- or good-rated headlights, with the A6 Sportback e-tron receiving a “good/acceptable” rating, and the all-new Audi Q5 and Q5 Sportback earning an “acceptable” rating after a re-test that prompted an optimization of the factory headlight aiming process to maximize visibility while reducing glare. 2025 Audi Q5 and Q5 Sportback models produced after July 2025 following the change in the factory headlight aiming process qualified for the award.