Jeep pushing for "safest Wrangler possible"

Jeep Australia says it is working striving for the highest possible safety rating for the new JL Wrangler.

Along with a broader on-road skillset, Jeep Australia boss Steve Zanlunghi has told Australian media that it is important the Wrangler arrives in Australia early next year “with the best possible safety rating”.

That rating will likely reflect standard fitment of autonomous emergency braking across the Wrangler range, according to Zanlunghi. After first telling motoring.com.au the entry-level Sport model would miss out on the technology (required for a five-star score under 2018 ANCAP guidelines), Zanlunghi confirmed he was eyeing off AEB for the entire Wrangler portfolio.

“We are shooting for the highest possible safety rating that we can get,” he said.

“At first, we thought it was an engineering issue (preventing the Sport version from getting AEB). But we discussed it with the engineering and product guys last night and have learned that all it takes is a wiring harness change.

“We are looking at having AEB in for the start of sales. It’s not confirmed yet as on or off but we are looking to, we are trying as hard as we can to get it on. We thought it was something a lot further away and quite difficult.

“That was on the Sport versions – regardless, it will be standard on all the other versions.

If the wiring harnesses are already engineered, then it’s just a case of plugging it in.”

Whether the JL Wrangler will actually qualify for a five-star rating in Australia is unknown, but a four-star rating seems more likely. motoring.com.au understands the new model will have the odds stacked against it for five-star qualification because of inherent problems brought about by its design (pedestrian safety etc.).

Regardless, Jeep is likely to offer three grades of the JL Wrangler in Australia: the Sport, Rubicon and Overland. It is also looking closely at a fourth model that could be sold in limited numbers.

The first batch of customer Wranglers were due to arrive in Australian showrooms in November, but that date has now been pushed back to the first quarter of 2019.

“It’s important that we do have AEB, because that’s the direction that the industry’s going,” Zanlunghi said.

“The feedback that we got with Compass was that it needed to be on there.”