Jeep Wrangler Disappoints In Euro NCAP Test With 1-Star Rating

Another month, another batch of recently launched vehicles was tested by the Euro NCAP. This time, the European New Car Assessment Program evaluated nine new models, including the Audi Q3, BMW X5, Hyundai Santa Fe, Jaguar I-PACE, Peugeot 508, Volvo V60, and S60. All these cars achieved five-star ratings, but that's hardly a surprise. Way more interesting are the results of the Jeep Wrangler and Fiat Panda.

The former surprises with just a single star out of five possible and that's mainly due to the lack of modern active and passive safety systems. Despite being new for 2018, on the European market the Wrangler comes equipped only with a seatbelt reminder and a simple driver-set speed limiter. As far as airbags are concerned, the off-roader has front driver and passenger airbags, side head airbags, and side chest airbags.

The situation is even worse with the Panda. It becomes only the second vehicle ever to record zero starts from Euro NCAP's tests following the Punto in 2017. Euro NCAP is particularly unhappy with the fact that the supermini has no other standard form of a driver-assistance system than a seatbelt reminder. In fact, lane keep assist, speed assistance, and automatic emergency braking are not even optionally available.

"It is truly disappointing to see a brand-new car being put on sale in 2018 with no autonomous braking system and no lane assistance," secretary general of Euro NCAP comments on the Wrangler's results. "It is high time we saw a product from the Fiat-Chrysler group offering safety to rival its competitors."

All other tested vehicles from the final portion of cars for this year register five-star ratings, but the organization points out not everything is perfect in terms of safety performance even with them. The Hyundai Santa Fe, for example, showed an issue where the side curtain airbags could be torn during deployment in vehicles equipped with the optional panoramic roof. The BMW X5, on the other hand, failed to deploy its knee airbag correctly – an issue also seen in the 2017 5 Series.