One-star ANCAP crash rating for new Jeep Wrangler

The new Jeep Wrangler has been slammed with a lowly one-star safety rating by local independent automotive safety body ANCAP, which today also handed down top five-star crash ratings for the new Toyota HiAce and upcoming Nissan LEAF.

ANCAP chief executive James Goodwin praised the five-star safety rating for the Toyota HiAce, which launches this week in Australia, as “a landmark achievement for the commercial van segment” and a boost in safety for tradespeople and commercial vehicle operators.

“This rating shows a new level of market maturity, with modern safety design being prioritised by the majority vehicle brands regardless of the segment or intended use of the vehicle,” he said.

“For many, the vehicle is their workplace and Toyota should be applauded for providing the same level of safety in the HiAce as we see in today’s passenger cars and SUVs,” Goodwin said.

The replacement for Australia’s top selling van achieved scores of 94% for Adult Occupant Protection, 88% for Child Occupant Protection, 84% for Vulnerable Road User Protection and 77% for Safety Assist.

While the previous HiAce achieved a four-star ANCAP rating under a less stringent scoring system in 2011, the new HiAce joins the Ford Transit Custom and Mercedes-Benz Vito in gaining a maximum five-star ANCAP rating since the tighter new rating regime came into place in 2018.

ANCAP also commended the Nissan LEAF, which becomes available Down Under in August.

“The rating for the Nissan Leaf provides consumers and fleet buyers with another safe electric vehicle option,” said Goodwin.

“Good levels of protection were observed for adult and child occupants, and performance of its lane keep assist and autonomous emergency braking systems was rated ‘Good’.”

In contrast, ANCAP described the new Wrangler’s one-star result -- the same rating it attracted from Euro NCAP in December as “disappointing” and “concerning”.

“The safety performance of the Wrangler is limited, falling well shy of the expected standard in three of the four key areas of assessment,” said Goodwin

“Chest protection was a concern for the driver and rear passenger in each of the frontal crash tests; a number of penalties were applied for structural deformation and potential leg injury hazards; and base variants lack autonomous emergency braking altogether.

“This is a disappointing result for a new design and is in stark contrast to the results we’re seeing across a range of brands, models and segments where safety is being prioritised.”

Reflecting the scores dished out last year by Euro NCAP for all but child protection, which improved from 69 to 80%, the new Wrangler’s local ANCAP rating included 50% for Adult Occupant Protection, 49% for Vulnerable Road User Protection and 32% for Safety Assist.

The latter carries over despite the fitment of autonomous emergency braking (AEB) in mid-range Overland and top-spec Rubicon – but not entry-level Sport S – versions of the new Wrangler in Australia.

While twin front and side airbags, stability control and anti-lock brakes are standard on all models, the European Wrangler does not come with new driver aids fitted to some variants here, including AEB, blind-spot monitoring and cross-path detection.

ANCAP told carsales.com.au the Wrangler could be re-rated later this year when AEB is fitted to base Wrangler Sport S variants as part of a MY2020 upgrade, but said it would have to conduct actual crash and AEB tests here and that a vastly improved ANCAP rating was unlikely in any case.

“Additional physical crash and safety assist testing would need to take place,” said ANCAP communications and advocacy director Rhianne Robson.

“There are still deficiencies with the physical crashworthiness and occupant injury results which would likely limit its rating even with the standard inclusion of AEB across the range.”

Standard range-wide AEB fitment would make the Wrangler at least eligible for a five-star ANCAP rating, but trademark Wrangler features like removable doors, a removable roof and fold-down windscreen, which prevent head and curtain airbags, are problematic for top crash-rating results.

The Wrangler’s body-on-frame design also makes a five-star rating more difficult -- but not impossible, as the new Mercedes-Benz G-Class proves.

For reference, the fitment of AEB and a lane support system, which the Wrangler does not have, lifted the MY18 Ford Mustang’s Safety Assist score from 16 to 61 per cent and its overall Euro NCAP rating from two to three stars – the same rating achieved more recently by Suzuki’s new ladder-framed, AEB-quipped Jimny.

However, it remains to be seen what improvement, if any, the addition of range-wide AEB would make to the Wrangler’s 32 per cent Safety Assist score and therefore its overall ANCAP rating.

For its part, Jeep Australia says it is yet to decide whether it will make available any new Wrangler vehicles for local crash testing, but stressed the added safety of its all-new JL-series off-roader compared to the previous JK Wrangler, which scored four ANCAP stars in 2012.

“The new JL Wrangler has all the same safety features [as the JK], with 26 additional safety features,” Jeep Australia chief Steve Zanlunghi told carsales at the JL launch this month.

“The vehicles tested in Europe were 2.0-litre and 2.2-litre. Our vehicles here are going to be predominantly 3.6-litre engines.

“Also the main key focus will be AEB because we have AEB here and also blind-spot monitoring, which they don’t have in Europe.

“I want to stress that the vehicle is ADR-complaint. It is a safe vehicle,” Zanlunghi said, adding that the rest of the Jeep Australia is five-star ANCAP-rated and that “our dealers are reporting no customer concerns about AEB”.