The Q7’s pre-crash front seatbelts will tighten automatically in the event the vehicle detects an impending crash, improving protection against injury significantly. The Enclave doesn’t offer pre-crash pretensioners.
Both the Q7 and Enclave have child safety locks to prevent children from opening the rear doors. The Q7 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 Enclave’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 Q7 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 Enclave 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.
To provide maximum traction and stability on all roads, All-Wheel Drive is standard on the Q7. But it costs extra on the Enclave.
When descending a steep, off-road slope, the Q7’s standard Hill Descent Assist allows you to creep down safely. The Enclave doesn’t offer Hill Descent Assist.
Earlier warning of stopped traffic, traffic signals, dangerous road conditions, weather, or accidents, can keep driver's safer and prevent crashes. The Q7 has Car-to-X Services, a system that seamlessly communicates important warnings to the driver about impending danger, if they're available. The Enclave doesn’t offer a system that can receive automated systems from infrastructure.
A passive infrared night vision system optional on the Q7 helps the driver to more easily detect people, animals or other objects in front of the vehicle at night. Using an infrared camera to detect heat, the system then displays the image on a monitor in the dashboard. The Enclave doesn’t offer a night vision system.
Both the Q7 and the Enclave have standard driver and passenger frontal airbags, front and rear side-impact airbags, side-impact head airbags, front and rear 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, blind spot warning systems, rearview cameras, rear cross-path warning and available around view monitors.
The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration does 35 MPH front crash tests on new vehicles. In this test, results indicate that the Audi Q7 is safer than the Buick Enclave:
|
|
Q7 |
Enclave |
|
|
Passenger |
|
| STARS |
4 Stars |
4 Stars |
| HIC |
102 |
234 |
| Chest Compression |
.7 inches |
.7 inches |
| Neck Stress |
118 lbs. |
159 lbs. |
| Neck Compression |
38 lbs. |
48 lbs. |
| Leg Forces (l/r) |
46/29 lbs. |
160/266 lbs. |
New test not comparable to pre-2011 test results. More stars = Better. Lower test results = Better.
The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration does side impact tests on new vehicles. In this test, which crashes the vehicle into a flat barrier at 38.5 MPH and into a post at 20 MPH, results indicate that the Audi Q7 is safer than the Buick Enclave:
|
|
Q7 |
Enclave |
|
|
Front Seat |
|
| STARS |
5 Stars |
5 Stars |
| Hip Force |
350 lbs. |
372 lbs. |
|
|
Into Pole |
|
| STARS |
5 Stars |
5 Stars |
| Max Damage Depth |
13 inches |
14 inches |
| HIC |
290 |
346 |
| Spine Acceleration |
40 G’s |
48 G’s |
| Hip Force |
557 lbs. |
721 lbs. |
New test not comparable to pre-2011 test results. More stars = Better. Lower test results = Better.
Instrumented handling tests conducted by the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration and analysis of its dimensions indicate that the Q7 is 1.7% to 2.8% less likely to roll over than the Enclave.