2015 Acura TLX Earns Top Crash-Test Score from IIHS
Acura’s latest luxury sedan, the TLX, has earned the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety’s highest award, Top Safety Pick Plus. The TLX earned top scores of good in IIHS’ roof-strength, side, moderate-overlap front and head restraint/seat evaluations. It earned an acceptable rating in IIHS’ small-overlap frontal crash test, which simulates hitting an object from the front-left corner of the car. (IIHS scores are good, acceptable, marginal and poor.)
Related: Ford Adds Auto-Braking, Pedestrian Detection to Collision-Warning System
Small and midsize luxury cars have mixed results in IIHS’ small-overlap test — the safety group’s latest and most challenging test. The TLX replaces the TSX and TL; it improves on the TSX’s marginal score in the small-overlap but falls short of the TL’s good small-overlap rating. Still, the TLX’s collision-mitigation technology dwarfs that of the TL. Optional features include blind spot warning, lane departure warning with steering assist and two collision-warning systems. The TL had just the blind spot warning system.
To earn a Top Safety Pick Plus rating, cars must score acceptable or good in IIHS’ small-overlap test and good on the other tests. IIHS also requires some sort of forward collision warning system for a Top Safety Pick Plus, so technically the TLX only qualifies when equipped with one of its two available systems. In its tests, IIHS awards forward collision warning systems a basic, advanced or superior rating depending on how much automatic braking they apply.
Acura calls its simpler system Forward Collision Warning, while the more complex system is the Collision Mitigation Braking System. FCW is standard on all-wheel-drive models and included with the Technology or Advance packages on front-drive models (starting at $35,945, including a destination fee). It earns a basic forward-collision-warning rating from IIHS, as it warns you of an impending collision but doesn’t initiate auto-braking. CMBS, by contrast, warns and auto-brakes if you don’t respond. It scored a superior rating from IIHS, but it comes only on the Advance Package with the V-6 TLX, which runs $43,395 with front-wheel drive or $45,620 with all-wheel drive. Still, in Acura’s characteristically short list of factory options, that’s about as expensive as the TLX gets — and it’s a relative value among small to midsize luxury cars, considering the Audi A4, BMW 3 Series and Mercedes C-Class top out well above $50,000.
The TLX is on sale now; it starts at $31,915.
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