For enhanced safety, the front and rear seat shoulder belts of the Lexus RC F have pretensioners to tighten the seatbelts and eliminate dangerous slack in the event of a collision. The Chevrolet Camaro doesn’t offer pretensioners for the rear seat belts.
The RC F’s optional pre-crash front seatbelts will tighten automatically in the event the vehicle detects an impending crash, improving protection against injury significantly. The Camaro doesn’t offer pre-crash pretensioners.
The RC F has standard Pre-Collision System, which use forward mounted sensors to warn the driver of a possible collision ahead. If the driver doesn’t react and the system determines a collision is imminent, it automatically applies the brakes at full-force in order to reduce the force of the crash or avoid it altogether. The Camaro offers an available collision warning system without the automated brake feature that would prevent or reduce the collision if the driver fails to react.
The RC F’s lane departure warning system alerts a temporarily inattentive driver when the vehicle begins to leave its lane and gently nudges the vehicle back towards its lane. The Camaro doesn’t offer a lane departure warning system.
The RC F (except Fuji Speedway Edition) offers optional Intuitive Park Assist to help warn the driver about vehicles, pedestrians or other obstacles behind or in front of their vehicle. The Camaro doesn’t offer a front parking aid.
The RC F’s driver alert monitor detects an inattentive driver then sounds a warning and suggests a break. According to the NHTSA, drivers who fall asleep cause about 100,000 crashes and 1500 deaths a year. The Camaro doesn’t offer a driver alert monitor.
Both the RC F and the Camaro have standard driver and passenger frontal airbags, front side-impact airbags, driver and front passenger knee airbags, side-impact head airbags, four-wheel antilock brakes, traction control, electronic stability systems to prevent skidding, daytime running lights, rearview cameras, available blind spot warning systems and rear cross-path warning.
The Insurance Institute for Highway Safety (IIHS) performs roof strength tests. In that test the RC F earned the top rating of “Good” because its roof supported over four times the RC F’s weight before being crushed five inches. The Camaro was rated lower at “Acceptable.”
For its top level performance in all IIHS frontal, side, rear impact and roof-crush tests, and with its optional front crash prevention system, the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety grants the RC F the rating of “Top Pick” for 2017, a rating granted to only 205 vehicles tested by the IIHS. The Camaro was not even a “Top Pick” for 2016.