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 CX-30 doesn’t offer a back seat reminder.
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 CX-30’s 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 CX-30 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.
The UX has a standard blind spot warning system that uses sensors to alert the driver to objects in the vehicle’s blind spots where the side view mirrors don’t reveal them and moves the vehicle back into its lane. Only the CX-30 Select/Preferred/Carbon/Premium offers a blind spot warning system.
To help make backing out of a parking space safer, the UX has standard Rear Cross-Traffic Alert, helping the driver avoid collisions. Only the CX-30 Select/Preferred/Carbon/Premium offers Rear Cross Traffic Alert.
Both the UX and the CX-30 have standard driver and passenger frontal airbags, front and rear side-impact airbags, driver and front passenger knee airbags, side-impact head airbags, front and rear seatbelt pretensioners, height adjustable front shoulder belts, four-wheel antilock brakes, traction control, electronic stability systems to prevent skidding, crash mitigating brakes, daytime running lights, lane departure warning systems, rearview cameras, driver alert monitors, available all wheel drive and rear parking sensors.
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, results indicate that the Lexus UX is safer than the Mazda CX-30:
|
UX |
CX-30 |
|
Front Seat |
|
STARS |
5 Stars |
5 Stars |
HIC |
52 |
73 |
Chest Movement |
.8 inches |
1 inches |
Abdominal Force |
149 lbs. |
209 lbs. |
|
Rear Seat |
|
STARS |
5 Stars |
5 Stars |
HIC |
96 |
197 |
Spine Acceleration |
46 G’s |
60 G’s |
New test not comparable to pre-2011 test results. More stars = Better. Lower test results = Better.
For its performance in IIHS driver-side and passenger-side small overlap frontal, moderate overlap frontal, updated side impact, headlight, daytime pedestrian crash prevention, and nighttime pedestrian crash prevention testing, the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety grants the UX its highest rating: “Top Safety Pick Plus” for 2023, a rating granted to only 29 vehicles tested by the IIHS. The CX-30 is only a standard “Top Safety Pick” for 2023.