For enhanced safety, the front and rear seat shoulder belts of the Lexus RX have pretensioners to tighten the seatbelts and eliminate dangerous slack in the event of a collision and force limiters to limit the pressure the belts will exert on the passengers. The BMW X5 xDrive45e doesn’t offer pretensioners for the rear seat belts.
For enhanced safety, the front seat shoulder belts of the Lexus RX are height-adjustable to accommodate a wide variety of driver and passenger heights. A better fit can prevent injuries and the increased comfort also encourages passengers to buckle up. The BMW X5 xDrive45e doesn’t offer height-adjustable seat belts.
The RX has standard Active Headrests, which use a specially designed headrest to protect the driver and front passenger from whiplash. During a rear-end collision, the Active Headrests system moves the headrests forward to prevent neck and spine injuries. The X5 xDrive45e doesn’t offer a whiplash protection system.
Both the RX and the X5 xDrive45e have standard driver and passenger frontal airbags, front and rear 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, crash mitigating brakes, daytime running lights, lane departure warning systems, blind spot warning systems, rearview cameras, rear cross-path warning, driver alert monitors, available all wheel drive and around view monitors.
The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration does 35 MPH front crash tests on new vehicles. In this test, results indicate that the Lexus RX is safer than the BMW X5 xDrive45e:
|
RX |
X5 xDrive45e |
|
Driver |
|
STARS |
4 Stars |
4 Stars |
Leg Forces (l/r) |
499/536 lbs. |
636/584 lbs. |
|
Passenger |
|
STARS |
4 Stars |
4 Stars |
HIC |
176 |
342 |
Chest Compression |
.4 inches |
.8 inches |
Neck Compression |
90 lbs. |
91 lbs. |
Leg Forces (l/r) |
403/259 lbs. |
527/418 lbs. |
New test not comparable to pre-2011 test results. More stars = Better. Lower test results = Better.
The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration does side impact tests on new vehicles. In this test, which crashes the vehicle into a flat barrier at 38.5 MPH and into a post at 20 MPH, results indicate that the Lexus RX is safer than the BMW X5 xDrive45e:
|
RX |
X5 xDrive45e |
|
Front Seat |
|
STARS |
5 Stars |
5 Stars |
HIC |
53 |
72 |
Abdominal Force |
110 G’s |
130 G’s |
Hip Force |
214 lbs. |
279 lbs. |
|
Into Pole |
|
STARS |
5 Stars |
5 Stars |
Max Damage Depth |
14 inches |
14 inches |
HIC |
275 |
308 |
Hip Force |
685 lbs. |
796 lbs. |
New test not comparable to pre-2011 test results. More stars = Better. Lower test results = Better.
For its top level performance in IIHS driver and passenger-side small overlap frontal, moderate overlap frontal, side impact, roof strength and head restraint tests, its standard vehicle-to-vehicle front crash prevention system, its standard vehicle-to-pedestrian front crash prevention system, and its available headlight’s “Acceptable” rating, the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety grants the RX the rating of “Top Pick” for 2021, a rating granted to only 128 vehicles tested by the IIHS. The X5 xDrive45e has not been fully tested, yet.