Yahoo Finance Safety and Driver Assistance
Safety and Driver Assistance Rating:
The NX earns great marks from two crash-test agencies, and its standard active-safety equipment provides an extra layer of protection. The only thing holding the Lexus back from safety greatness is a better backup camera: the current one, while useful, has a disappointingly low resolution.
What’s New for 2018?
Unfortunately, due to changes in IIHS’s test procedures, the NX has lost its Top Safety Pick+ designation because it has not yet completed the new passenger-side small-overlap crash test. Meanwhile, Lexus-as well as its parent company, Toyota-has been busy making active-safety features standard across its lineup. For 2018, the Lexus Safety System+ suite of features brings automated emergency braking, forward-collision warning, lane-departure warning, lane-keeping assist, automatic high-beam headlamps, and adaptive cruise control to every NX model.
Read more about how NHTSA and the IIHS crash-test cars here.
Insurance Institute for Highway Safety (IIHS) Test Results
2018 Lexus NX
Active-Safety Features
2017 Lexus NX
The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) and the nonprofit, independent Insurance Institute for Highway Safety (IIHS) evaluate vehicles for crashworthiness in the United States. NHTSA assigns cars an overall rating out of five stars. IIHS uses a different set of tests, grades cars on a scale of Good to Poor, and awards the vehicles that perform best across its tests with Top Safety Pick or Top Safety Pick+ honors, the latter of which requires that the subject’s automated forward-collision-braking system performs well.
Both the NX200t and NX300h earned five stars from NHTSA, and the IIHS has named the 2017 NX a Top Safety Pick+ after it passed with Good results across the board.
National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) Test Results
2017 Lexus NX
Insurance Institute for Highway Safety (IIHS) Test Results
2017 Lexus NX
Airbags, Child Seats, and Spare Tire Location
Front, side, and curtain airbags are offered as standard, as is a driver’s knee restraint, which helps reduce the likelihood of the driver’s kneecaps colliding with the steering column in the event of an accident.
With two sets of child-seat anchors and two tether anchors, the NX can accommodate up to two child seats in the second row. Anchor points are easy to access, and our rear-facing infant-seat base was a snap to level. Rear doors open wide enough to accommodate the carrier, and the bulky seat doesn’t compromise front-passenger comfort.
A compact spare tire is provided under the NX’s cargo floor, along with the necessary tools for a roadside swap.
Active Safety Features
Lexus offers forward-collision warning with autonomous emergency braking as an option, bundled with radar-based adaptive cruise control for a modest $900. Lane-departure warning is available and uses forward-facing cameras to monitor lane markers and sound an alert if the driver drifts out of the lane without activating a turn signal.
Backup Camera
Although the backup camera’s image quality isn’t crisp, the field of view is quite good for daily use.
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