All new from the ground up for 2018, the Jimny isn’t the safest sport utility vehicle in its segment. Euro NCAP tested the mountain goat in its labs, and the verdict comes in the form of three stars out of a maximum rating of five.
The 1.5 GLX with the standard safety equipment is the test subject, and in terms of percentage points, the Jimny received 73 percent for adult occupant protection, 84 for child occupant, 52 for vulnerable road users, and 50 for safety assist. The question is, what went wrong?
In the frontal offset test, Euro NCAP highlights “insufficient pressure in the driver’s airbag,” causing the dummy to hit the steering wheel. In the offset test, the passenger compartment “was extensively deformed,” especially around the door frame. The front seats and head restraints, meanwhile, offer “marginal protection against whiplash injury in a rear impact.”
On the upside, Euro NCAP says the autonomous emergency braking system “performed well in tests of its functionality at low speeds.” Moving on to child occupants, the only drawback according to the European organization is the insufficient protection of the dummy’s neck in the frontal offset test.
As you can tell from the box-shaped exterior design, the front of the Jimny isn’t exactly friendly to pedestrians in the case of a crash. The upright bumper and stiff windscreen pillars are the biggest problems, to which the Euro NCAP adds that the AEB shows weak performance in pedestrian avoidance. To make matters worse, autonomous emergency braking doesn’t operate in low-light conditions and can’t react fast enough to cyclists.
Last, but certainly not least, the Euro NCAP mentions that Emergency Lane Keeping and Lane Keep Assist aren’t available on the Jimny. Whichever way you choose to look at it, the Jimny wasn’t designed to be as safe as an SUV can be.
It’s a proper off-road vehicle for hardcore enthusiasts, and that’s perfectly fine. And in any case, the 2018 Jimny is far safer than the previous generation that autoevolution tested a few years ago.
After a 1:43 scale model of a Ferrari 250 GTO sparked Mircea's interest for cars when he was a kid, an early internship at Top Gear sealed his career path. He's most interested in muscle cars and American trucks, but he takes a passing interest in quirky kei cars as well. Full profile
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