Award-Winning Jeep Avenger Scores Poorly in Euro NCAP's Safety Tests

2 months ago - 15 September 2024, autoevolution

Jeep's first electric vehicle, the Avenger, recently fell into the hands of Euro NCAP. After subjecting it to crash tests, the safety specialist called it "mediocre" and noted that the Stellantis-owned car manufacturer "demonstrated a lack of ambition."

The Jeep Avenger scored only three out of five stars, with 79% in the Adult Occupant, 70% in the Child Occupant, 59% for Vulnerable Road Users, and 53% in the Safety Assist category, a rather disappointing result for such a popular model that has multiple awards under its belt.

"These results demonstrate a clear lack of ambition for a manufacturer that has shown much innovation in its car design and for a brand that is directly targeting the family segment," said Euro NCAP's Secretary General, Dr. Michiel van Ratingen. "There is growing competition in the car industry, and Stellantis has had to take several steps to secure the future of its brands. But safety should not be where a car manufacturer makes its savings."

The European car safety specialist noted that this result was "mediocre," adding that it was "particularly surprising" that it provided "poor" chest protection to a 10-year-old dummy in the side impact and that it doesn't have a child presence detection system, a feature that's already standard on its rivals. On top of that, the forward collision warning's audio signal was "not effective," yet after "persistence," the company has improved it on newer examples, and owners of existing ones can have theirs updated.

Besides assessing the Jeep Avenger's safety, Euro NCAP also crash-tested other models as part of its latest session. The Captur and Symbioz nabbed four stars each, and while "the four-star rating is a sign that, although these cars made a solid impression, Renault no longer seems to be striving for the top spot," van Ratingen added. However, Europ NCAP "congratulates" Audi, Ford, Subaru, and Xpeng for "their five-star ratings and for continuing to set a standard for others to follow."

This is a direct reference to the Audi Q6 e-tron, Ford Explorer, Subaru Crosstrek, Subaru Impreza, and Xpeng G6, all of which obtained the maximum five-star safety rating. The four-ring brand's electric crossover scored 91%, 92%, 81%, and 80% in the Adult Occupant, Child Occupant, Vulnerable Road Users, and Safety Assist categories, respectively. The Ford Explorer obtained 89%, 86%, 80%, and 72%, respectively, and the Xpeng G6 did 88%, 85%, 81%, and 75%, respectively.

Subaru's Crosstrek and Impreza obtained nearly identical numbers, with 83% in the Adult Occupant, 90% in the Child Occupant, 85% and 84% in the Vulnerable Road Users, and 72% in the Safety Assist category. As for the four-star Renaults, the Captur did 76%, 80%, 76%, and 69%, respectively, whereas the Symbioz scored 73%, 80%, 76%, and 69% in the aforementioned categories.