If you’re looking for a luxury large SUV, you may be interested in in the 2021 Infiniti QX80. There’s a lot to like about it. It has a nice interior and a quiet drive. However, if safety is your primary concern, you may be wondering: is the 2021 Infiniti QX80 safe? 

How did Consumer Reports test whether the QX80 is safe?

Consumer Reports buys and tests a variety of vehicles every year. They purchase the vehicles independently to avoid any bias or conflict of interest. Then they test them in their Connecticut facility, which has plenty of space for road tests and other evaluations. Consumer Reports combines their own testing with the results of the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety and the National Highway Traffic Safety Association’s crash test ratings. Sometimes these aren’t available, in which case they’re not included. 

How did Consumer Reports determine if the QX80 is safe? The overall score for the 2021 Infiniti QX80 is a 64. This isn’t just a safety score. It also includes road test results as well as predicted reliability and predicted owner satisfaction. These are assessed through looking at past reliability scores as well as owner surveys. 

So how did the 2021 QX80 do in safety tests?

The performance aspect of the road test is part of how safe a vehicle is. If a vehicle can’t accelerate quickly enough or doesn’t handle well, those factors can contribute to the likelihood of an accident. The 2021 Infiniti QX80 did well in acceleration, getting a four out of five. 

On the other hand, the Infiniti QX80’s handling score wasn’t very high, at just two out of five stars. Additionally, its emergency handling score was only a one out of five. 

Brakes are obviously important, and the 2021 Infiniti QX80’s brake score was a three out of five. It took the QX80 139 feet to stop on dry pavement and 155 feet to stop on wet pavement. 

The headlights scored a four out of five stars. 

Whether the QX80 is safe is determined in part by its safety features. The 2021 Infiniti QX80 comes with all of the advanced safety features recommended by Consumer Reports except for daytime running lights. These are not even optional in the QX80. The Infiniti QX80 comes with standard front side airbags and head protection standard with rollover. 

The IIHS didn’t test the 2021 Infiniti QX80, but the NHTSA did. The NHSA overall crash, which combines the frontal and side crash, as well as the rollover tests, was four out of five stars. The overall frontal-crash rating was only three stars. The overall frontal-crash rating on the driver side was only two out of five stars. The passenger side was slightly better, at three stars. 

Side crash test ratings were better than front crash test ratings in the 2021 Infiniti QX80. Side crash test ratings include an overall score, a driver side score, passenger side score, and pole-crash. These were all five stars. Rollover ratings were mediocre, at three out of five stars for both the 2WD and 4WD. 

Overall, the 2021 Infiniti QX80 could definitely be safer. The front crash test ratings leave something to be desired. If you’re looking for a safe large luxury SUV, keep looking.

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