2020 Lexus RX Gets IIHS Top Safety Pick Rating

The new 2020 Lexus RX crossover has earned a Top Safety Pick rating from the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety (IIHS). But just like every car that passes IIHS’s difficult muster up till now, one caveat is present – only models coming with certain headlights can have good scores.

It’s this same metric that caused the RX to closely miss a chance on reaching a Top Safety Pick+ rating, the peak of what could be achieved in the test. The static LED projectors of the model’s base headlights and one of its premium headlight choices have been rated by IIHS as acceptable. However, a poor rating blasted the curve-adaptive LED headlights, saying those lamps produce too glaring light.

In another area, the RX performed well during crash testing, granting it good ratings in all sessions. According to IIHS, the crossover never had a passenger-side small overlap crash test before this, and now it has proven that some improvements have been made to the front-end structure and bumper for better safety for passengers in the front seats. The organization also granted the RX’s front crash prevention system a superior rating as the car managed to avoid collisions at both 12 and 25 mph.

For 2020, the Lexus RX350 and 450h hybrid variant have gotten minor refreshes, gaining the most recent version of Lexus Safety System +. It packs new features like low-light detection for pedestrians and daytime detection of bicycles, adjoining the existing adaptive cruise control and pre-collision system. Lexus has so far collected four IIHS safety awards this year. Previously, the brand’s ES, UX and NX have earned Top Safety Pick+ ratings.