Jeep has received “mixed results” from the latest round of crash testing at the Australasian New Car Assessment Program (ANCAP) labs, with the Grand Cherokee picking up a four-star safety rating, while the seven-seat Cherokee L received five stars.
ANCAP says that a four-star safety rating was applied to the latest MY23 Jeep Grand Cherokee range after it noted that the shorter wheelbase variant in petrol form demonstrated “a difference in the performance of the seatbelts fitted to the second row.”
The issue was not identified in crash testing of the Grand Cherokee 4xe plug-in hybrid.
This was, according to ANCAP, “compared with the performance of the LWB petrol and SWB PHEV, and as a result, a nil score for achieved for rear passenger chest protection.”
Under ANCAP’s latest test protocols, a nil or ‘poor’ rating limits the overall star rating to a maximum of four, regardless of its overall adult occupant protection scores.
While posting its results, ANCAP even called on Jeep’s parent company, Stellantis, to implement a safety fix for the rear outboard seatbelts.
“The long-wheelbase Jeep Grand Cherokee L and short-wheelbase PHEV achieved sound results across all areas of testing and assessment, seeing them eligible for the five-star rating,” ANCAP’S CEO, Carla Hoorweg said.
“The poor level of chest protection recorded for short-wheelbase petrol variants, however, is an area we’d encourage Jeep to address,’ she added.
“We strongly encourage Jeep to implement a production change to improve the safety performance of the rear outboard seatbelts.”
You can check out our full written review of the Jeep Grand Cherokee L here, as well as a video of our usual 0-100km/h testing.
