The luxury compact Lexus UX has achieved a full-sized safety rating, with the Australasia New Car Assessment Program (ANCAP) awarding all variants a maximum five stars for vehicle occupant and vulnerable road user protection.
ANCAP delivered the UX a 96 per cent score for adult occupant protection following both frontal and side impact crash testing.
Full points were given to Lexus’ newest SUV for upper leg, head and neck protection of the driver, front passenger and rear passenger in every frontal-impact test.
Maximum points were awarded for the UX’s performance in the side-impact test, both for child occupant protection – with a crash test dummy simulating both a six- and 10-year old child positioned in the rear seat – and all parts of the driver.
The exterior of the UX also enabled it to achieve top points for minimising the harm to lower legs of pedestrians and cyclists should an unavoidable collision with vulnerable road users occur.
Testing of the UX’s Pre-collision system with pedestrian and daytime cyclist detection delivered the highest number of points in autonomous emergency braking (AEB) pedestrian protection and the entire AEB – City (10-50km/h) criteria.
ANCAP chief executive James Goodwin commended the result derived from the independent vehicle safety authority’s most stringent crashworthiness and crash avoidance criteria.
“All FWD and AWD variants of the hybrid Lexus UX are fitted as standard with a range of safety assist features including AEB, lane support and blind spot monitoring, and ‘Good’ performance was seen across testing of these features,” Mr Goodwin said.
Lexus chief executive Scott Thompson said the strong showing of the UX further reinforced its place as the class-leading luxury compact SUV.
“The safety performance of the UX highlights the value of a luxury compact SUV that is produced with premium construction and is then equipped with premium technology standard on every variant,” Mr Thompson said.
“The Lexus UX resets the benchmark in its segment after surpassing the ANCAP score set last year by a rival tested under the same criteria.”
All eight variants feature eight airbags – driver, front passenger (dual), driver’s knee, side, cushion and curtain side.
A standard Lexus Safety System+ package includes a Pre-collision system with pedestrian and daytime cyclist detection, All-speed radar active cruise control, Lane Tracing Assist, Traffic-sign recognition and Automatic high beam.
Also standard are a Blind-spot monitor, Reversing camera, Parking support alert, Clearance sonar, Rear Cross Traffic Alert and Rear Camera Detection.
Source: Lexus
