Notwithstanding numerous accolades and commercial successes, Euro NCAP tests revealed safety shortcomings on the Jeep Avenger, particularly in terms of child protection.
Jeep Avenger, the poor result in Euro NCAP crash tests
Jeep Avenger, the new compact SUV from the famous American brand, has managed to win several titles over the past year, including the prestigious “European Car of the Year.” Despite its successes until a few months ago, serious problems were found regarding Euro NCAP Crash & Safety Test, as a result of which only 3 stars were awarded to the car.
But what does this all mean? Euro NCAP stands for European New Car Assessment Program. This would be a completely independent body whose task is to test in detail the safety of new cars that are sold. This is precisely why crash tests are carried out, which are very severe impact tests to which cars are subjected. During these tests, cars are made to collide with different kinds of obstacles, such as walls, poles or other vehicles at different speeds, so as to simulate as closely as possible a real accident situation. The purpose of these tests is to be able to evaluate the ability that the vehicle has to be able to protect the people inside it at the time of impact.
Test results and safety aspects for the Jeep Avenger
More specifically, a number of aspects that are considered critical to safety are examined, these would be the protection of adult occupants, in the event of a collision anywhere in the vehicle. The protection of children, where in this case child protection systems such as for example child seats and heel lifts are evaluated in order to understand their effectiveness. In addition, pedestrian protection, i.e., the risk of injury to a passerby on the road if they are hit, is also evaluated. And finally, driver assistance systems, such as for example ABS and ESP or automatic emergency braking. We have mentioned 3 stars for the Jeep Avenger, since the rating of these tests is expressed precisely by a number of stars, where five stars represents the maximum result.
Such testing are very important from all aspects, starting with the consumer, since buyers need to be aware of the vehicle’s safety systems. Equally important for manufacturers as well, so that they are stimulated to create more and more efficient systems and for road safety in general.
In this instance, for the Jeep Avenger, these tests highlighted some problems especially with regard to the protection of younger passengers. In detail, chest protection for a 10-year-old child in a side impact was found to be poor. Also noted was the lack of an in-car child detection system, which is usually found as standard on many of the competing cars.
For Euro NCAP Crash test not only children, but also pedestrians at risk
Another deficiency, came from the forward collision warning system, in which a poor audio signal was found. In this respect, Jeep had already taken action, trying to improve such systems on newer models and making upgrades available to those who already owned one of these vehicles. Nevertheless, the total results of the tests with impacts with pedestrians, motorcyclists, and bicyclists were found to be not at all satisfactory.
Also speaking on this subject was MIchiel van Ratingen, i.e., the Secretary General of Euro NCAP, who wanted to point out that these results obtained by the model, would highlight a lack of ambition on the part of the Stellantis group regarding the safety of its vehicles. While recently Stellantis has been working hard to make its models fully competitive in the market, it seems that the automotive group has not paid special attention to such an important aspect as safety.
A wakeup call for Jeep and Stellantis
The Euro NCAP crash test results, then, are really a major alarm for both the automotive group but also for the manufacturer Jeep. From one point of view, this lack should spur companies to want to improve in this important aspect, bringing all safety systems up to minimum standards, both using strategy with software but also with hardware. Then again, on the other hand, serious problems have presented themselves on a model that until now has been presented on the market as an ideal vehicle for families, which at the moment cannot be confirmed.
Surely, as we also anticipated at the beginning of the text, the Jeep Avenger is certainly a very successful car, although the results of the crash tests held with Euro NCAP remind everyone that safety in a vehicle is by no means an optional extra. The hope is that every aspect can be fixed and be a reminder for every car manufacturer to draw only positive factors from this incident to avoid generating problems with human lives when driving around.