To maximize occupant safety, the front and rear seat shoulder belts of the Lexus RC have pretensioners to eliminate dangerous slack in the event of a collision. The Toyota Supra doesn’t offer pretensioners.
The RC’s optional pre-crash front seatbelts will tighten automatically in the event the vehicle detects an impending crash, improving protection against injury significantly. The Supra doesn’t offer pre-crash pretensioners.
The RC offers all-wheel drive to maximize traction under poor conditions, especially in ice and snow. The Supra doesn’t offer all-wheel drive.
The RC 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. A system to reveal vehicles in the Supra’s blind spot costs extra.
To help make backing out of a parking space safer, the RC has standard Rear Cross-Traffic Alert, helping the driver avoid collisions. Toyota charges extra for Rear Cross Traffic Alert on the Supra.
Both the RC and the Supra 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, crash mitigating brakes, daytime running lights, lane departure warning systems, rearview cameras, driver alert monitors and available rear parking sensors.
For its top level performance in all IIHS frontal, side, rear impact and roof-crush tests, and its standard front crash prevention system, the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety grants the RC the rating of “Top Safety Pick” for 2017, a rating granted to only 206 vehicles tested by the IIHS. The Supra has not been tested, yet.