Jeep has been praised for upgrading the safety of its iconic Wrangler in Australia.
It has gone from a pitiful 1 star rating in crash tests, to a more acceptable 3 stars in the latest round of tests by the independent ANCAP organisation.
That, quietly, is the same number of stars scored by Ford’s best-selling Mustang — you heard right.
BUT, even at three stars, the Wrangler falls far too short of the maximum five-star rating that even Chinese manufactured vehicles have been able to achieve in recent years.
To get the increased rating, Fiat-Chrysler Australia has introduced autonomous emergency braking (AEB) and blind spot monitoring (BSM) as standard safety features across the MY20 Jeep Wrangler range, with performance testing of these systems undertaken by ANCAP earlier this month.
“These upgrades are welcome, and I commend the local supplier for moving to provide Wrangler buyers in Australia and New Zealand with collision avoidance capability,” ANCAP Chief Executive, James Goodwin said.
“While a 3 star rating is still somewhat shy of the expected 5 stars, all upgraded models now have the ability to detect and assist with avoiding a crash with another vehicle – both in lower and higher speed scenarios.”
“Unfortunately the upgraded AEB system fitted to updated models is not yet able to detect our most vulnerable road users in pedestrians and cyclists” he said.
“Consumers should be aware that the structural deficiencies we saw with the originally-tested model such as A-pillar and cross-facia beam failure, footwell intrusion, high seatbelt loads and excessive pedal movement have not been addressed and remain a risk for occupants,” Mr Goodwin added.
Active lane support functionality is also not available.
The 3 star ANCAP safety rating applies to all two-door and 4-door Wrangler variants supplied to the Australian and New Zealand markets built from November 2019.
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