2003 Lexus LS

large luxury car / 4-door sedan

2003 Lexus LS 4-door sedan
2001 Lexus LS shown

Crashworthiness

Rating overview
Moderate overlap front: original test
Head restraints & seats

Other available safety features

  • Standard daytime running lights

Key

  • G
    Good
  • A
    Acceptable
  • M
    Marginal
  • P
    Poor
  • Superior
  • Advanced
  • Basic

Some ratings use a scale of Poor to Good. Others range from Basic to Superior.

Moderate overlap front: original test

Rating applies to 2001-06 models

Tested vehicle: 2001 Lexus LS 430 4-door

The Lexus LS was redesigned for the 2001 model year and renamed the LS 430 because the engine size was increased.

All 2001-06 LS 430 models manufactured after December 2000 include a design change to prevent damage to the wiring harness connecting crash sensors involved in safety belt crash tensioner activation and airbag deployment. (Information about when a specific vehicle was manufactured is on the certification label typically affixed to the car on the driver door or adjacent B-pillar.)

The LS 430 was evaluated in two 40 mph frontal offset crash tests. One car was manufactured before the wiring harness change; the other after the change, following discussions with Lexus. Due to the similarity of results, this evaluation covers both tests.

Overall evaluation
Structure and safety cage
Driver injury measures
Head/neck
Chest
Leg/foot, left
Leg/foot, right
Driver restraints and dummy kinematics

Action shot taken during the frontal offset crash test.

The dummy's position in relation to the steering wheel and instrument panel after the crash test indicates that the driver's survival space was maintained well.

Smeared greasepaint indicates where the dummy's head hit the roof rail during rebound in the second test. Head acceleration from this hit was low.

Intrusion into the driver's space was minimal, and all leg and foot injury measures were low.

Technical measurements for this test

Measures of occupant compartment intrusion on driver side

Test ID CEF0101 CF00032
Footwell intrusion
Footrest (cm) 10 8
Left (cm) 10 9
Center (cm) 12 10
Right (cm) 11 9
Brake pedal (cm) 6 9
Instrument panel rearward movement
Left (cm) 1 2
Right (cm) 4 4
Steering column movement
Upward (cm) 3 5
Rearward (cm) 2 3
A-pillar rearward movement (cm) 2 1

Driver injury measures

Test ID CEF0101 CF00032
Head
HIC-15 172 291
Peak gs at hard contact 27 11
Neck
Tension (kN) 1.0 2.0
Extension bending moment (Nm) 2 37
Maximum Nij 0.17 0.45
Chest maximum compression (mm) 37 44
Legs
Femur force - left (kN) 3.1 3.3
Femur force - right (kN) 1.8 1.9
Knee displacement - left (mm) 3 0
Knee displacement - right (mm) 1 0
Maximum tibia index - left 0.35 0.32
Maximum tibia index - right 0.34 0.40
Tibia axial force - left (kN) 4.0 2.8
Tibia axial force - right (kN) 3.0 1.9
Foot acceleration (g)
Left 66 53
Right 63 63

How the moderate overlap front test is conducted

Head restraints & seats

Seat type: All seats

Overall evaluation
Dynamic rating
Seat/head restraint geometry
Technical measurements for this test
Seat type All seats
Geometry
Backset (mm) 40
Distance below top of head (mm) 25
Seat design parameters
Pass/fail Fail
Max T1 acceleration (g) 11.1
Head contact time (ms) 94
Force rating 2
Neck forces
Max neck shear force (N) 96
Max neck tension (N) 839

How the head restraint & seat test is conducted
Currently, IIHS tests apply only to front seats.