2003 Lexus RX

midsize luxury SUV / 4-door SUV

2003 Lexus RX 4-door SUV

Crashworthiness

Rating overview
Moderate overlap front: original test

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 1999-2003 models

Tested vehicle: 1999 Lexus RX 300 4-door 4wd

The Lexus RX was introduced in the 1999 model year as the RX 300. This design remained in production until the end of the 2003 model year.

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 the driver's upper survival space was maintained well, but there was more footwell intrusion than is desirable.

A welded seam across the driver footwell was torn open, allowing intrusion into the center of the footwell.

During rebound, the dummy's head hit only the head restraint. The design of this restraint is good when it's adjusted to the highest vertical position.

Technical measurements for this test

Measures of occupant compartment intrusion on driver side

Test ID CF98022
Footwell intrusion
Footrest (cm) 12
Left (cm) 28
Center (cm) 26
Right (cm) 17
Brake pedal (cm) 15
Instrument panel rearward movement
Left (cm) 3
Right (cm) 4
Steering column movement
Upward (cm) 3
Rearward (cm) 3
A-pillar rearward movement (cm) 1

Driver injury measures

Test ID CF98022
Head
HIC-15 184
Peak gs at hard contact no contact
Neck
Tension (kN) 1.0
Extension bending moment (Nm) 12
Maximum Nij 0.22
Chest maximum compression (mm) 32
Legs
Femur force - left (kN) 5.1
Femur force - right (kN) 2.7
Knee displacement - left (mm) 0
Knee displacement - right (mm) 6
Maximum tibia index - left 0.72
Maximum tibia index - right 0.45
Tibia axial force - left (kN) 1.2
Tibia axial force - right (kN) 2.1
Foot acceleration (g)
Left 61
Right 51

About the original moderate overlap front test