Lexus RX receives five-star ANCAP safety rating

The Lexus RX range – which includes the petrol RX350 and hybrid RX350h and RX500h – has received a five-star safety rating from ANCAP under the 2020-22 testing protocols.

It received an adult occupant protection rating of 90 per cent, a child occupant protection rating of 89 per cent, a vulnerable road user protection rating of 89 per cent, and a safety assist rating of 93 per cent.

ANCAP says the 89 per cent for vulnerable road user protection was a record high score.

The safety assist category, which covers features like the autonomous emergency braking and lane-keep assist, saw Good ratings across the board.

Driver chest protection in the frontal offset test was rated Marginal and lower leg protection Adequate, though Good ratings were recorded overall for the front passenger in the same test.

In the oblique pole and full-width frontal tests, driver chest protection was also rated Adequate.

Though the RX is fitted with a centre airbag to mitigate occupant-to-occupant interaction in side impacts, ANCAP notes “additional information to demonstrate that the performance was robust and symmetrical was not provided and a 1.00 point penalty was applied”.

However, the safety authority noted it provides head protection for both front seat occupants, and prevention of occupants’ movement towards the other side of the vehicle in the far-side impact tests was assessed as Good in the vehicle-to-vehicle impact scenario and Adequate in the vehicle-to-pole scenario.

“The Lexus RX is another of our top performers – achieving high scores across all key areas of assessment resulting in a five star ANCAP safety rating,” said ANCAP chief executive Carla Hoorweg.

Standard safety equipment in the RX includes:

• Autonomous emergency braking
• Intersection collision avoidance support
• Emergency steering assist
• Lane-departure warning
• Lane Tracing Assist (lane centring)
• Blind-spot monitoring
• Rear cross-traffic alert
• Driver fatigue monitoring

Some models also include a surround-view camera.

While the plug-in hybrid RX450h+ has yet to go on sale in Australia, ANCAP’s sister authority Euro NCAP has awarded it five stars and almost identical category scores.

MORE: Everything Lexus RX