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A Complete Guide to Lexus Safety Ratings

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Cameron Thiessen
· 9 min read
In a world where new compact SUVs and crossover
hatchbacks
are replacing old sedan models, Lexus still specializes in producing midsize luxury cars with top safety ratings, and their most popular SUV models score brilliantly as well.
Lexus follows the rest of
Toyota
’s suite in pursuing top safety ratings by including high tech standard safety features in base models. While Lexus leads the way in the market of small and midsize SUVs, such as the thrifty UX, they also maintain a fantastic record of producing the ultimate luxury family sedans, like brilliant ES.
If you’re looking for a no-nonsense look at all of Lexus’ vehicles’ safety ratings,
car insurance
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Jerry
has put together all the most vital info to help you decide on which one is right for you! We can also help you find the
best car insurance for Lexuses
.
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Are Lexuses safe in accidents? 

Lexuses are some of the safest new vehicles on the road, particularly because their standard safety features are nothing short of top-of-the-line. While some Lexuses may get slightly lower reviews from safety testers, these come in the context of Lexus setting their own bar considerably high.

What makes a Lexus safe?

Today’s car market is dominated by brands who are willing to invest in top-notch safety features and crash-proof engineering. Lexus is one of those brands. Things like forward-collision warning with automatic emergency braking, daytime cyclist detection, pedestrian detection, and adaptive cruise control are game-changing, life-saving technologies in an industry still plagued by many violent accidents each year.
With the upgraded version of Lexus’ already-brilliant adaptive cruise control and driver assist functions, the highest-quality Lexus models are practically self-driving cars. A car that can slam on the brakes for you is more valuable than the more purist driving enthusiasts might like to admit.
Not only are Lexuses designed with high tech systems designed to avoid collisions, they’re incredibly sturdy if they do end up crashing. The term “foolproof” comes to mind.
Here are some of the ways your Lexus will keep you safe while driving:
  • It detects surrounding traffic patterns and objects in front of and around the vehicle.
  • Adaptive cruise control essentially works the pedals for you, a game changer for disabled drivers.
  • Pre-collision warnings and automatic emergency braking do all they can to prevent you from crashing into something or someone.
  • Lane assist features help you stay in your lane.
Lexus has decided that these things should be the standard norm for luxury vehicles, and it has given way to many other car manufacturers doing the same at even lower price points.
Lexus’ cars aren’t just incredibly safe, they’re also considered to be some of the most reliable vehicles, meaning the brilliant technology that powers all their impressive features is unlikely to fail on you unexpectedly.

The two safety rating systems you need to know

If you’re trying to ensure you find a vehicle that matches your own personal safety standards, you’ll want to familiarize yourself with the organizations that set the standards for safety ratings and crash test ratings. These two organizations are the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) and the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety (IIHS), a federal agency and a non-profit respectively that both seek to record and catalog safety-related failures and successes of the automotive industry.
The NHTSA has been using its five-star
rating system
since 1993 to quantify an overall score and individual ratings for frontal crash, side crash, and rollover tests.
If you’re looking for a little extra detail, the IIHS tends to do a better job of providing deeper evaluations of individual safety features, while still conducting
six different crash tests
. The IIHS also tend to focus more on collision mitigation and crashworthiness and leads the way on evaluations of headlights and car seat attachments.
The IIHS provide rankings based on a gradient of poor, marginal, acceptable, and good. They’ll also award vehicles with standout safety scores the title of “Top Safety Pick” or “Top Safety Pick+.”

Which Lexus has the highest safety ratings?

The Lexus
ES
,
IS
, and
NX
all receive “Top Safety Pick+” status for their outstanding performances in safety evaluations, but if we were to pick one that stands out from what appears to be a nearly perfect tie, it would be the NX, which gets a perfect “Superior” rating for its standard vehicle-to-vehicle front crash prevention system and for vehicle-to-pedestrian crash prevention.
NHTSA hasn’t crash tested the NX recently, but this shouldn’t be a concern considering the essentially perfect marks it receives from the IIHS.
MORE: How to find vehicle safety ratings

2022 Lexus UX

Starting price: $34,225
IIHS safety rating: 2022 Top Safety Pick
NHTSA safety rating: 5 stars overall, 4 stars for frontal and rollover
It’s not just the most affordable new Lexus. The
UX
is also one of the safest vehicles on the road, taking its place in the race to create the perfect compact crossover SUV. Available as a hybrid and remarkably reliable, the UX really just checks all the boxes. The state-of-the-art Lexus Safety System+ 2.0 of course comes standard, featuring all of the hottest driver assistance technologies available on the market.
Pro tip The UX loses major safety points for its non-upgraded headlights, so make sure you shell out for the Triple Beam LED Headlamps with Auto-Leveling package.

2022 Lexus NX

Starting price: $39,025
IIHS safety rating: 2022 Top Safety Pick+
NHTSA safety rating: Not yet rated
A step up from the UX in almost every way, the
Lexus NX
is one of the safest midsize SUVs available. It features the upgraded Lexus Safety Sense+ 3.0 suite which rivals the safety features of competitors’ top models and trims.
An available 10-inch heads-up display provides valuable information that appears in your line of sight while you keep your eyes on the road, and its intuitive safe exit assist prevents you from opening the door if it detects that something is approaching from behind. But don’t worry! This can be overridden if you know it’s sensing something that isn’t a threat.

2022 Lexus RX

Starting price: $46,645
IIHS safety rating: Top Safety Pick+
NHTSA safety rating: 4 stars overall, 5 stars for side barrier and side crash tests
The
RX
is essentially a longer UX. It features the same Lexus Safety System+ 2.0—not the upgraded system found in the NX—but features like all-speed dynamic radar cruise control still make driving the RX pretty difficult to screw up.
Pro tip This is another one where you need to be aware of which headlight setup is safest. Both the Triple-Beam LED package and the base trim get adequate ratings from IIHS, but the Triple-Beam Auto-Leveling LED Headlamps with Adaptive Front Lighting System package is not worth shelling out extra for, due to the excessive glare created by the low beams.

2022 Lexus GX

Starting price: $56,700
IIHS safety rating: Not yet rated
NHTSA safety rating: Not yet rated
The
GX
is Lexus’ off-road luxury SUV, a larger and more upscale offering than the models listed above. Unfortunately, its newer iterations haven’t been tested recently. Also, it features the lower-level Lexus Safety System+, which doesn’t quite match the tech of the higher two levels but still manages to blow competitors out of the water.
Note that the GX’s
LATCH
system receives only an “Acceptable” grade from IIHS for its ease of use.

2022 Lexus IS

Starting price: $38,625
IIHS safety rating: 2022 Top Safety Pick+
NHTSA safety rating: 5 stars overall, 4 stars overall front rating
Moving into Lexus’ legendary sedan models is the industry-defining
Lexus IS
. It comes standard with the Lexus Safety System+ 2.5, complete with road sign assist and full-speed adaptive cruise control. And, of course, it has all the other features you should expect from Lexus by now. This is by far one of the safest sedans on the road.

2022 Lexus ES

Starting price: $41,875
IIHS safety rating: 2022 Top Safety Pick+
NHTSA safety rating: 5 stars overall, 4 stars for frontal crash and rollover ratings
Ranked by Kelley Blue Book as #1 in Best Midsize Cars and Best Luxury Midsize Cars, it should be no surprise that the 2022
Lexus ES
earns top safety ratings, featuring the same LSS+2.5 safety suite as the IS, complete with all the fixin’s and evasive steering assistance.

2022 Lexus RC

Starting price: $42,220
IIHS safety rating: Good overall
NHTSA safety rating: Not yet rated
As you get into Lexus’ smaller and sportier options, like the
Lexus RC
2-door coupe, safety ratings get a bit more sparse for newer models. But the safety elements of the RC that have been evaluated get rave reviews, as should be expected. In particular, the standard Lexus Safety System+ gets a perfect IIHS rating for vehicle-to-vehicle front crash prevention, but doesn’t feature the same vehicle-to-pedestrian crash prevention technology as some other models. MORE:
14 safe driving tips
 

How you can save money on Lexus insurance

Lexus’ high safety ratings and industry-leading safety features offer a ton of value—not just because they promise a safe ride for you and your passengers, but also because higher safety ratings usually contribute to lower insurance premiums.
And if you’re driving cars that are literally designed to avoid crashing into one another, then chances are you’re a smart driver who won’t be getting into many accidents—if any. This is huge, because the one factor that’s really going to hit your insurance prices is your driving record.
Premium hikes after a single accident can
raise insurance rates
by an average of 34%! And if you needed any more reason to invest in these sorts of safety features, many insurers will give you a further discount on your premium for driving a car equipped with them.
The next best way to get the best price is to comparison-shop, but
Jerry
understands that that’s easier said than done when it comes to getting prices on car insurance policies. Because of this, Jerry has partnered with over 50 of the country’s top insurers to be able to provide you with quotes customized to your driver profile, so you can compare and contrast and get the best price.
Just download the app, plug in your info, and wait a mere 45 seconds for savings to pour in. That’s right, savings; the average Jerry user saves over $800 a year on their car insurance!
Jerry
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