For enhanced safety, the front and rear seat shoulder belts of the Lexus UX 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 Jeep Compass doesn’t offer pretensioners for its rear seat belts.
In the past twenty years hundreds of infants and young children have died after being left in vehicles, usually by accident. When turning the vehicle off, drivers of the UX are reminded to check the back seat if they opened the rear door before starting out. The Compass doesn’t offer a back seat reminder.
The Lexus UX has standard driver and front passenger side knee airbags mounted low on the dashboard. These airbags helps prevent the driver and front passenger from sliding under their seatbelts or the main frontal airbags; this keeps them better positioned during a collision for maximum protection. Knee airbags also help keep the legs from striking the dashboard, preventing knee and leg injuries in the case of a serious frontal collision. The Compass doesn’t offer a front passenger side knee airbag.
Using vehicle speed sensors and seat sensors, smart airbags in the UX deploy with different levels of force or don’t deploy at all to help better protect passengers of all sizes in different collisions. The UX’s side airbags will shut off if a child is leaning against the door. The Compass’ side airbags don’t have smart features and will always deploy full force.
The UX has a standard Secondary Collision Brake, which automatically applies the brakes in the event of a crash to help prevent secondary collisions and prevent further injuries. The Compass doesn’t offer a post collision braking system: in the event of a collision that triggers the airbags, more collisions are possible without the protection of airbags that may have already deployed.
Over 200 people are killed each year when backed over by motor vehicles. The UX offers optional Parking Support Brake that uses rear sensors to monitor and automatically apply the brakes to prevent a rear collision. The Compass doesn’t offer backup collision prevention brakes.
The UX’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 Compass doesn’t offer a driver alert monitor.
Both the UX and the Compass have standard driver and passenger frontal airbags, front side-impact airbags, driver knee airbags, side-impact head airbags, front wheel drive, height adjustable front shoulder belts, plastic fuel tanks, 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, available all wheel drive and rear parking sensors.
The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration does 35 MPH front crash tests on new vehicles. In this test, results indicate that the Lexus UX is safer than the Jeep Compass:
|
UX |
Compass |
|
Driver |
|
STARS |
4 Stars |
4 Stars |
HIC |
116 |
196 |
Neck Injury Risk |
33% |
41% |
Neck Stress |
371 lbs. |
445 lbs. |
Neck Compression |
17 lbs. |
38 lbs. |
Leg Forces (l/r) |
376/433 lbs. |
326/489 lbs. |
|
Passenger |
|
STARS |
4 Stars |
4 Stars |
Chest Compression |
.7 inches |
.8 inches |
Neck Injury Risk |
36% |
36% |
Neck Stress |
163 lbs. |
235 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 UX is safer than the Jeep Compass:
|
UX |
Compass |
|
Front Seat |
|
STARS |
5 Stars |
5 Stars |
HIC |
52 |
102 |
Chest Movement |
.8 inches |
.8 inches |
Hip Force |
323 lbs. |
335 lbs. |
|
Rear Seat |
|
STARS |
5 Stars |
5 Stars |
HIC |
96 |
101 |
Spine Acceleration |
46 G’s |
56 G’s |
Hip Force |
633 lbs. |
928 lbs. |
|
Into Pole |
|
STARS |
5 Stars |
5 Stars |
HIC |
292 |
355 |
New test not comparable to pre-2011 test results. More stars = Better. Lower test results = Better.
Instrumented handling tests conducted by the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration and analysis of its dimensions indicate that the UX, with its four-star roll-over rating, is 6.2% to 6.6% less likely to roll over than the Compass, which received a three-star rating.