In the past twenty years hundreds of infants and young children have died after being left in vehicles, usually by accident. When turning the vehicle off, drivers of the Solterra are reminded to check the back seat if they opened the rear door before starting out. The ES doesn’t offer a back seat reminder.
In a Vehicle-to-Vehicle Frontal Crash Prevention 2.0 test conducted by the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety (IIHS), the Subaru Solterra achieved a “Good” rating - the highest possible - for its performance in forward collision warning and automatic braking systems, demonstrating its excellent capabilities in preventing collisions. The Lexus ES has not been tested.
The Solterra has a standard Secondary Collision Brake, which automatically applies the brakes in the event of a crash to help prevent secondary collisions and prevent further injuries. The ES doesn’t offer a post collision braking system: in the event of a collision that triggers the airbags, more collisions are possible without the protection of airbags that may have already deployed.
To provide maximum traction and stability on all roads, Full-Time Four-Wheel Drive is standard on the Solterra. But it costs extra on the ES.
To help make backing out of a parking space safer, the Solterra has standard Rear Cross Traffic Alert with Parking Support Brake, systems which detect vehicles approaching from the sides and can automatically apply the brakes to prevent a collision. Rear Cross-Traffic Braking costs extra on the ES.
Both the Solterra and the ES 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, lane departure warning systems, blind spot warning systems, rearview cameras, rear cross-path warning and available around view monitors.