For enhanced safety, the front seat shoulder belts of the Audi A5 are height-adjustable to accommodate a wide variety of driver and passenger heights. A better fit can prevent injuries and the increased comfort also encourages passengers to buckle up. The BMW 3 Series Sedan doesn’t offer height-adjustable seat belts.
Both the A5 and 3 Series Sedan 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 3 Series Sedan’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 3 Series Sedan doesn’t offer front seat center airbags.
In a Vehicle-to-Vehicle Frontal Crash Prevention 2.0 test conducted by the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety (IIHS), the Audi A5 achieved a “Good” rating - the highest possible - for its performance in forward collision warning and automatic braking systems, demonstrating its excellent capabilities in preventing collisions. The BMW 3 Series Sedan has not been tested.
To provide maximum traction and stability on all roads, All-Wheel Drive is standard on the A5. But it costs extra on the 3 Series Sedan.
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 3 Series Sedan doesn’t offer a system that can receive automated systems from infrastructure.
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. A system to reveal vehicles in the 3 Series Sedan’s blind spot costs extra.
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. BMW charges extra for Cross Traffic Warning on the 3 Series Sedan and the 3 Series Sedan’s Cross Traffic Warning does not include automatic braking.
Both the A5 and the 3 Series Sedan have standard driver and passenger frontal airbags, front side-impact airbags, driver and front passenger knee airbags, side-impact head airbags, front seatbelt pretensioners, four-wheel antilock brakes, traction control, electronic stability systems to prevent skidding, crash mitigating brakes, post-collision automatic braking systems, daytime running lights, lane departure warning systems, rearview cameras and driver alert monitors.
The Audi A5 has achieved the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety’s (IIHS) highest rating of “Top Safety Pick Plus” for the 2025 model year. This distinction is based on its exceptional performance in IIHS’ rigorous battery of safety tests. Specifically, it earned a “Good” rating in the latest, more stringent moderate overlap front crash test, a “Good” result in the updated side impact test, and a “Good” score in the revised pedestrian crash prevention test. The 3 Series Sedan has not yet been fully evaluated by the IIHS for 2025.