Photo: Lexus
This year, Lexus unveiled its first luxury compact crossover, ticking off another entry in the niche segments that tend to go so well these days. It’s the NX and apart from being one of the best looking in the class, the automaker is also bragging about it being among the safest, the car benefiting from impressive preventive, active and passive safety features.
Starting with the preventive safety part, all Lexus NX models will be equipped with a Pre-Crash Safety (PCS) system, comprising a millimeter-wave radar in the front grille that detects vehicles and other obstacles on the road ahead.
If a risk of collision is detected, the PCS will alert the driver via a buzzer and a visual warning, then it will activate the Pre-Crash Seatbelt pretensioners and will provide supplementary assistance to braking effort. In case the driver doesn’t react in a specific time, the system will automatically apply the brakes to reduce the impact speed or even totally prevent it if the speed is not high.
Along with this feature, the Adaptive Cruise Control will be offered as standard. The system uses the same sensor to maintain the distance between the NX and another vehicle ahead when the cruise control is activated. It works at all speeds and it can even stop the car if the one ahead did so.
Regarding the passive safety features, the NX’s body is reinforced with high tensile strength sheet steel which can hold up to 980 Mpa (142,100 psi/9,993 kgf/square cm) in certain areas to minimize cabin deformation. Even so, the cabin is fitted with energy-absorbing structures in the pillars and headlining as well as impact-absorbing pads in the door trims. Whiplash injury reducing front seats are also included.
Pedestrians will be protected via the PCS system as well as the energy-absorbing structure of the bonnet, wing mounting bracket and impact-absorbing structure of the cowl. The front bumper is also fitted with energy-absorbing materials to reduce the risk of leg injury.
All models come with eight airbags, including a dual-stage driver’s airbag, dual-stage and dual-chamber front passenger airbag, driver’s knee airbag, front passenger cushion airbag, front side airbags and full-length curtain airbags.
Along with these, there are optional active safety features you can add, like Lane Keep Assist, Blind Spot Monitor and Rear Cross Traffic Alert, while the Vehicle Stability Control, ABS, Brakeforce distribution and Hill-start Assist Control are coming as standard.
The F Sport models will also be fitted with automatic high beam function, that uses a windscreen-mounted camera to detect oncoming traffic and switch the LED headlamps to high or low beam.
If a risk of collision is detected, the PCS will alert the driver via a buzzer and a visual warning, then it will activate the Pre-Crash Seatbelt pretensioners and will provide supplementary assistance to braking effort. In case the driver doesn’t react in a specific time, the system will automatically apply the brakes to reduce the impact speed or even totally prevent it if the speed is not high.
Along with this feature, the Adaptive Cruise Control will be offered as standard. The system uses the same sensor to maintain the distance between the NX and another vehicle ahead when the cruise control is activated. It works at all speeds and it can even stop the car if the one ahead did so.
Regarding the passive safety features, the NX’s body is reinforced with high tensile strength sheet steel which can hold up to 980 Mpa (142,100 psi/9,993 kgf/square cm) in certain areas to minimize cabin deformation. Even so, the cabin is fitted with energy-absorbing structures in the pillars and headlining as well as impact-absorbing pads in the door trims. Whiplash injury reducing front seats are also included.
Pedestrians will be protected via the PCS system as well as the energy-absorbing structure of the bonnet, wing mounting bracket and impact-absorbing structure of the cowl. The front bumper is also fitted with energy-absorbing materials to reduce the risk of leg injury.
All models come with eight airbags, including a dual-stage driver’s airbag, dual-stage and dual-chamber front passenger airbag, driver’s knee airbag, front passenger cushion airbag, front side airbags and full-length curtain airbags.
Along with these, there are optional active safety features you can add, like Lane Keep Assist, Blind Spot Monitor and Rear Cross Traffic Alert, while the Vehicle Stability Control, ABS, Brakeforce distribution and Hill-start Assist Control are coming as standard.
The F Sport models will also be fitted with automatic high beam function, that uses a windscreen-mounted camera to detect oncoming traffic and switch the LED headlamps to high or low beam.
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