The A5’s pre-crash front seatbelts will tighten automatically in the event the vehicle detects an impending crash, improving protection against injury significantly. The Accord doesn’t offer pre-crash pretensioners.
Both the A5 and Accord have child safety locks to prevent children from opening the rear doors. The A5 has power child safety locks, allowing the driver to activate and deactivate them from the driver's seat and to know when they're engaged. The Accord’s child locks have to be individually engaged at each rear door with a manual switch. The driver can’t know the status of the locks without opening the doors and checking them.
The A5 has a standard front seat center airbag, which deploys between the driver and front passenger, protecting them from injuries caused by striking each other in serious side impacts. The Accord doesn’t offer front seat center airbags.
The A5 has a standard Secondary Collision Brake Assist, which automatically applies the brakes in the event of a crash to help prevent secondary collisions and prevent further injuries. The Accord doesn’t offer a post collision braking system: in the event of a collision that triggers the airbags, more collisions are possible without the protection of airbags that may have already deployed.
The A5 has all-wheel drive to maximize traction under poor conditions, especially in ice and snow. The Accord doesn’t offer all-wheel drive.
Earlier warning of stopped traffic, traffic signals, dangerous road conditions, weather, or accidents, can keep driver's safer and prevent crashes. The A5 has Car-to-X Services, a system that seamlessly communicates important warnings to the driver about impending danger, if they're available. The Accord doesn’t offer a system that can receive automated systems from infrastructure.
The A5 offers an optional Top View Camera System to allow the driver to see objects all around the vehicle on a screen. The Accord only offers a rear monitor and front and rear parking sensors that beep or flash a light. That doesn’t help with obstacles to the sides.
The A5 has a standard blind spot warning system that uses sensors to alert the driver to objects in the vehicle’s blind spots where the side view mirrors don’t reveal them and moves the vehicle back into its lane. Only the Accord SE/Sport/EX-L/Touring offers a blind spot warning system.
To help make backing out of a parking space safer, the A5 has standard Rear Cross-Traffic Assist and Automatic Brake Activation automatically engages the brakes to help avoid a collision. Only the Accord SE/Sport/EX-L/Touring offers Cross Traffic Monitor and the Accord’s Cross Traffic Monitor does not include automatic braking.
Both the A5 and the Accord have standard driver and passenger frontal airbags, front and rear side-impact airbags, driver and front passenger knee airbags, side-impact head airbags, front seatbelt pretensioners, height adjustable front shoulder belts, four-wheel antilock brakes, traction control, electronic stability systems to prevent skidding, crash mitigating brakes, daytime running lights, lane departure warning systems, rearview cameras and driver alert monitors.
The Audi A5 weighs 558 to 851 pounds more than the Honda Accord. The NHTSA advises that heavier cars are much safer in collisions than their significantly lighter counterparts.