Two dummies sit in the driver and passenger seats of an Audi for a crash test

Vehicle safety

Audi invests in the development of new and improved vehicle safety features and works to high standards with the aim of protecting vehicle occupants and other road users. The company’s active and passive safety technologies can make a significant contribution to reducing the risk of accidents and injuries.

Vehicle safety has been a high priority at Audi for some time.

As early as 1938, engineers of DKW, one of the four founding brands of today’s AUDI AG, conducted rollover and side-impact tests with DKW models. These were among the first systematic crash tests in the history of the automobile. Active and passive vehicle safety are still clearly in focus today.

A black Audi Q6 e-tron quattro drives along a country road

Active vehicle safety

Experts consider “active safety” to be all elements in a vehicle that can help prevent an accident. In addition to the suspension, tires, braking system and lighting technology, such elements include assistance functions that provide early warning of potential hazards, issue a warning in the event of acute danger and, if the driver does not react in time, also automatically initiate emergency braking or an emergency steering maneuver.

Audi Q6 e-tron:Power consumption (combined) in kWh/100 km: 19.6-16.5; CO₂ emissions (combined) in g/km: 0; CO₂ class: A

White Audi parked in a hall to carry out a crash test

Passive vehicle safety

Passive safety” describes elements that can reduce the risk of injury or eliminate it entirely, for example: seat belts, airbags, stable passenger compartments and energy-dissipating vehicle structures. In the field of passive safety, around 220 specialists at Audi perform more than 800 elaborate crash tests and around 20,000 virtual accident simulations every year and work continuously on new and enhanced safety functions.

around

20.000

virtual accident simulations per year

more than

800

crash tests for the further development of passive safety functions

Future-proof: new Audi Vehicle Safety Center since 2023

The investment in the new Audi Vehicle Safety Center (AFZ) in Ingolstadt is paying off: Numerous models have been homologated here since November 2023. The AFZ is one of the most important Audi development facilities in the field of passive safety. Experienced teams of experts carry out one to two crash tests per day, five days a week

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Active contribution: Audi Accident Research Unit

In addition to the new and further development of its active and passive vehicle safety systems, AUDI AG also contributes actively to accident research with the Audi Accident Research Unit (AARU); an interdisciplinary research project in collaboration with the University Medical Center in Regensburg. The AARU is committed to better understanding the causes, circumstances and consequences of accidents in order to develop proposals and measures to enhance road safety. Audi shares these findings with authorities and public organizations and also uses them to develop new models.

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Audi inside – the podcast (in German)

„Elektrisch? Aber sicher!“

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