Toyota bZ4X - Reliability and safety

Toyota has a superb reputation for safety, while the bZ4X itself received a five-star out of five rating from crash safety experts Euro NCAP in 2022. The mid-size electric SUV was awarded 88 and 87 per cent in the adult and child occupant protection categories, 79 per cent in the vulnerable road user, and a 91 per cent score for its safety assistance technology. The Tesla Model Y did beat the bZ4X in the adult, vulnerable road users, and safety assistance categories, but the two were even in terms of child occupant protection.

The list of standard safety kit is extensive, with every model featuring automatic emergency braking (AEB) to help prevent or mitigate low-speed collisions with other vehicles, pedestrians, cyclists, and motorbikes. There’s also lane keep assistance to help keep you within your lane on the motorway, a speed limiter, adaptive cruise control, and a reversing camera.

Upgrading to Motion trim and above brings extras such as a blind spot monitoring system to warn you of vehicles that are alongside you when you go to change lanes, a 360-degree panoramic camera system, a driver monitoring camera, and front and rear parking sensors with an auto-braking function if it thinks you’re about to reverse into something at low speeds.

Buyers considering a bZ4X should be reassured by Toyota’s extensive experience with hybrid battery technology and its consistent performance in our Driver Power owner satisfaction surveys. In 2023, the Japanese carmaker finished 12th (out of 32) in our best car manufacturer rankings, while a total of seven of its models made it onto our list of the best cars to own, though the bZ4X was not one of them.

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Warranty

The bZ4X comes with Toyota’s three-year manufacturer warranty as standard, but buyers have the opportunity to extend this cover for up to 10 years/100,000 miles (whichever comes first). Each time you have your car serviced at an approved Toyota centre, your vehicle will receive a further 12-month/10,000-mile warranty up to the stated maximum above.

Servicing

To help with managing the cost of scheduled maintenance, Toyota provides tailored service plans which take into account your expected mileage and how long you wish the plan to last.

As per the section above, the service intervals for the bZ4X are every 12 months or 10,000 miles. That’s equivalent to a regular petrol or diesel car, although you’ll be pleased to hear that it does cost less to service than even the smallest Toyota Aygo X since there’s less work that needs to go into maintaining an electric vehicle.