Lexus Safety System+ 3.0: this is the updated safety systems package of the Japanese brand

If there is one thing Lexus cannot be denied, it is its determination to include advanced safety and driver assistance systems in all of its models. These are recognised and grouped together under the Safety System+ package, which is currently in its version 3.0, suggesting that Lexus does not stop working to improve and advance them.

In fact, the Safety System+ 3.0 package began to be introduced on the Lexus RZ in 2023 and since then it has been added to other models in the range such as the UX, LBX and LM in 2024, while in 2025 it will also reach the NX and RX. Furthermore, they have the advantage of being designed to be updated wirelessly through the DCM data communication module, without the need to visit the workshop.

The Lexus Safety System+ 3.0 package encompasses, as I was telling you earlier, a wide range of safety and driver assistance systems. Let’s see what they are and how each of them has evolved:

• Pre-collision safety system (PCS): Thanks to the installation of a new radar and camera, it is able to achieve a wider detection range, for example in the case of a risk of frontal collision with vehicles approaching from the left or right when turning at a junction. It can now also identify motorcycles, cyclists and pedestrians. To do this, emergency power steering helps keep the vehicle stable and within its lane when the driver has to perform an evasive manoeuvre, helping to avoid collisions with slight braking and steering assistance, and even cutting off acceleration at low speed if it detects sudden, unintentional use of the accelerator when driving slowly.
• Dynamic Radar Cruise Control (DRCC): It now provides a greater selection of vehicle-distance settings and incorporates new functions: it reduces speed on bends or, when overtaking, regulates the vehicle’s speed to avoid passing a slower vehicle on the right on a multi-lane road. Finally, it also allows the driver to easily restore the cruise speed to adapt to changes in the speed limit detected by the Traffic Sign Recognition System.

• Unintentional Lane Departure Warning (LDA): This system has now been improved to detect more objects, including street furniture such as posts, kerbs and crash barriers, and to detect whether the driver turns the steering wheel to avoid a person or a vehicle parked in the lane of travel.
• Lane Keeping Assist System (LTA): It distinguishes road markings, and even if they are covered or there is heavy traffic, the system uses the vehicle ahead as a reference. It can now also recognise three-dimensional objects and adjust its performance accordingly to keep an appropriate lateral distance from vehicles in adjacent lanes, all in a minimally intrusive way.

• Lane Change Assist (LCA): It can only be used when LTA is activated. The driver signals a lane change, and the system checks that it is safe to do so, calculating the target trajectory and providing the appropriate steering control. Once the lane change is completed, LTA returns to its normal operating state.
• Facial Recognition System: This is a new function that, through a camera mounted on the steering column behind the steering wheel, constantly monitors the driver’s condition. If the driver does not respond, the vehicle can slow down until it comes to a controlled stop in the same lane, with the hazard lights on.

• Proactive Driving Assist (PDA): It integrates Obstacle Avoidance Assist, Deceleration Assist and Steering Assist, with the great feature that it can now operate at lower speeds. In this way, in the event of a risk of collision, it applies force to the brakes and steering to avoid the obstacle while keeping the vehicle in its lane.
• Intelligent High Beam Control (AHS): This system can automatically adjust the headlights to achieve optimal forward illumination without dazzling drivers of oncoming vehicles.

• Traffic Sign Recognition (RSA): It can now recognise and display a greater variety of warning and prohibition signs. By linking with the speed limiter, it can reduce engine power or apply the brakes if necessary.
• Rear Cross Traffic Alert and rear camera detection (RCTA): In situations where the driver’s own lines of sight are obstructed, whether manoeuvring in small or narrow spaces, proximity sonars and cameras are used that can detect both static objects and vehicles and pedestrians crossing behind the vehicle when driving at low speed. If this happens, an audible alert is issued and a warning appears on the instrument cluster and on the multimedia system screen, even showing the position of the hazard relative to our vehicle and indicating where it is coming from.

• e-Latch electric opening system with Safe Exit Assist (SEA): This is an electronic door-unlocking system called e-Latch that works together with Blind Spot Monitoring, so that if the vehicle detects an approaching vehicle or motorcyclist from behind, it prevents the doors from opening. This system can be adjusted to three sensitivity levels.
• Panoramic View Monitor (PVM): Thanks to four cameras and 12 sensors, it can offer the driver a 360º view of the vehicle, as well as the option of a composite overhead view.

• Emergency lights (FHL): Finally, the hazard lights can be activated automatically to protect us from rear-end collisions from vehicles following us, operating at approach speeds of between 30 and 100 km/h. In the event of a rear collision, a secondary brake is automatically activated, preventing our vehicle from being thrown forward and colliding with another vehicle, thereby minimising the risk of a chain-reaction accident.