Top safety marks for Lexus NX

ANCAP has awarded the Lexus NX SUV a five-star safety rating in its latest round of vehicle crash testing.

The rating applies to all petrol, hybrid and plug-in hybrid NX variants. It was awarded because the luxury medium SUV performed well in all key areas of assessment, but especially in terms of occupant protection and effectiveness of safety-assist systems.

IN fact, the NX achieved a 92 per cent result (14.75 out of 16 points) for its safety-assist systems, with ANCAP praising the model’s crash avoidance technologies.

ANCAP said the Lexus’ driver-assistance and safety technologies performed well across the range of performance tests, with the autonomous emergency braking (AEB) system capable of detecting and responding to other vehicles, pedestrians, as well as cyclists.

The Lexus NX also introduces a capability to detect and prevent or mitigate crashes with motorcycles through its enhanced radar- and camera-based AEB system. From next year, this functionality will be encouraged by ANCAP under revised criteria which will take effect from January (2023).

“Lexus has provided an impressive suite of safety features and active safety equipment in its latest NX model,” said ANCAP CEO Carla Hoorweg.

An equally impressive 91 per cent result (34.59 out of 38 points) was achieved in the adult-occupant protection field with maximum points awarded to the NX for its driver protection in the side-impact and front passenger in the frontal offset (MPDB) tests.

“Good” and “adequate” scores were achieved for adult occupants in the full-width frontal and oblique pole tests. The NX further scored a high score of 89 per cent result (43.87 out of 49 points) for child-occupant protection in the MPDB and side-impact tests.

Lexus’ luxury medium SUV also performed reasonably well in offering protection to vulnerable road users, scoring an 83 per cent result (45.15 out of 54 points) in the field. ANCAP said the bonnet of the NX provided “good” or “adequate” protection to the head of a struck pedestrian over most of its surface, with “marginal” and “poor” results recorded at the base of the windscreen and its pillars. The front bumper provided “good” protection to pedestrians’ legs and pelvis respectively.

But it wasn’t all good news for the Japanese luxury marque. The Lexus NX managed only a marginal score for chest protection of the driver in the MPBD test for which a moderate penalty (-1.21 points from a possible 4.00) was applied.

Standard safety equipment for the Lexus NX – which was introduced locally in January of this year – includes dual frontal, side chest-protecting and side head-protecting (curtain) airbags, as well as a driver-knee airbag. A centre airbag, which provides added protection to front seat occupants in side impact crashes, is also standard on all variants.

AEB, lane support technology, a speed assist system and blind spot monitoring technology are also fitted as standard.