In the past twenty years hundreds of infants and young children have died after being left in vehicles, usually by accident. When turning the vehicle off, drivers of the Rav4 Plug-In Hybrid are reminded to check the back seat if they opened the rear door before starting out. The Q5 doesn’t offer a back seat reminder.
The Toyota Rav4 Plug-In Hybrid has a standard driver’s side knee airbag mounted low on the dashboard. The knee airbag helps prevent the driver from sliding under the seatbelts or the main frontal airbag; this keeps the driver better positioned during a collision for maximum protection. A knee airbag also helps keep the legs from striking the dashboard, preventing knee and leg injuries in the case of a serious frontal collision. The Q5 doesn’t offer knee airbags.
With its standard Pre-Collision System with Pedestrian Detection, the Toyota Rav4 Plug-In Hybrid is better at preventing collisions with pedestrians than the Audi Q5, according to the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety:
| 
 | Rav4 Plug-In Hybrid | Q5 | 
| Overall Evaluation | GOOD | MARGINAL | 
| 
 | Crossing Child - DAY | |
| 12 MPH | AVOIDED | AVOIDED | 
| 
 | Crossing Adult - NIGHT | |
| 12 MPH Brights | AVOIDED | -8 MPH | 
| 12 MPH Low beams | AVOIDED | -1 MPH | 
| 25 MPH Brights | AVOIDED | -13 MPH | 
| 25 MPH Low beams | AVOIDED | -2 MPH | 
| 
 | Parallel Adult - NIGHT | |
| 25 MPH Brights | AVOIDED | -2 MPH | 
| 25 MPH Low beams | AVOIDED | No Slowing | 
| 37 MPH Brights | AVOIDED | No Slowing | 
| Warning Issued-Brights | 1.8 sec | No Warning | 
| 37 MPH Low beams | -20 MPH | No Slowing | 
| Warning Issued-Low beams | 1 sec | No Warning | 
Both the Rav4 Plug-In Hybrid and the Q5 have standard driver and passenger frontal airbags, front side-impact airbags, side-impact head airbags, front seatbelt pretensioners, height adjustable front shoulder belts, four-wheel antilock brakes, all wheel drive, traction control, electronic stability systems to prevent skidding, crash mitigating brakes, post-collision automatic braking systems, 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 side impact tests on new vehicles. In this test, which crashes the vehicle into a flat barrier at 38.5 MPH, results indicate that the Toyota Rav4 Plug-In Hybrid is safer than the Audi Q5:
| 
 | Rav4 Plug-In Hybrid | Q5 | 
| 
 | Front Seat | |
| STARS | 5 Stars | 5 Stars | 
| Chest Movement | .5 inches | .6 inches | 
| Abdominal Force | 76 lbs. | 98 lbs. | 
| Hip Force | 196 lbs. | 279 lbs. | 
| 
 | Rear Seat | |
| STARS | 5 Stars | 5 Stars | 
| HIC | 103 | 185 | 
| Spine Acceleration | 46 G’s | 53 G’s | 
| Hip Force | 457 lbs. | 817 lbs. | 
New test not comparable to pre-2011 test results. More stars = Better. Lower test results = Better.
Side impacts caused 23% of all road fatalities in 2018, down from 29% in 2003, when the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety introduced its side barrier test. In order to continue improving vehicle safety, the IIHS has started using a more severe side impact test: 37 MPH (up from 31 MPH), with a 4180-pound barrier (up from 3300 pounds). The results of this newly developed test demonstrates that the Toyota Rav4 Plug-In Hybrid is safer than the Q5:
| 
 | Rav4 Plug-In Hybrid | Q5 | 
| Overall Evaluation | ACCEPTABLE | ACCEPTABLE | 
| Structure | GOOD | GOOD | 
| 
 | Driver Injury Measures | |
| Head/Neck | GOOD | GOOD | 
| Neck Tension | 134 lbs. | 245 lbs. | 
| Neck Compression | 67 lbs. | 89 lbs. | 
| Torso | GOOD | GOOD | 
| Shoulder Deflection | .47 in | .71 in | 
| Pelvis | ACCEPTABLE | ACCEPTABLE | 
| Pelvis Force | 1093 lbs. | 1116 lbs. | 
| Head Protection | GOOD | GOOD | 
| 
 | Passenger Injury Measures | |
| Head/Neck | GOOD | GOOD | 
| Torso | GOOD | ACCEPTABLE | 
| Shoulder Deflection | .94 in | 1.73 in | 
| Shoulder Force | 290 lbs. | 402 lbs. | 
| Torso Max Deflection | .83 in | 1.54 in | 
| Torso Deflection Rate | 8 MPH | 11 MPH | 
| Pelvis | GOOD | MARGINAL | 
| Pelvis Force | 692 lbs. | 1249 lbs. | 
Instrumented handling tests conducted by the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration and analysis of its dimensions indicate that the Rav4 Plug-In Hybrid is 3.1% less likely to roll over than the Q5.

