Planning to buy the
next-generation 2019 Suzuki Jimny soon once it becomes available locally? You might want to hold off on that, particularly if you value safety over everything else when it comes to buying a car. That's because according to the latest round of crash tests conducted by the
European New Car Assessment Program (Euro NCAP), Suzuki's newest mini SUV scored only a
3-Star rating out of a possible 5.
Based on the tests, the Jimny received the following scores for four different categories:
- 73 percent for Adult Occupants;
- 84 percent for Child Occupants;
- 52 percent for Vulnerable Road Users; and
- 50 percent for Safety Assist
According to the organization, the
frontal offset crash test revealed some problems with the Jimny, like
insufficient pressure in the driver's airbag when it deploys and the
steering wheel being displaced, allowing the driver's head to make contact with it. The same test also
extensively deformed the Jimny's cabin, especially around the door-frame, resulting in an 'adequate' rating for the front seat passenger's body and 'weak' for the driver as structures in the instrument panel and dashboard could injure occupants of different sizes. Protection for the knees and femurs of both front seat occupants were rated as 'good,' though.
In the
full-width crash test, protection of the head of the rear passenger was rated 'weak' while the chest of both driver and rear passenger was 'marginal.' Test results on the front seats and head restraints also showed
'marginal' protection against whiplash injury which, in turn, affected the Jimny's score for its Safety Assist rating as Euro NCAP requires 'good' head restraint performance as a pre-requisite to earn points for a vehicle's
autonomous emergency braking (AEB) system.
While it seems the performance of the Jimny in protecting its adult occupants seem disappointing,
how it protected child occupants were commendable as protection of all critical body areas was 'good' except for the necks which was rated as 'adequate.' In the side barrier test, protection of both occupants was 'good' for all critical parts of the body.
As for the
protecting pedestrians, while the hood provided generally 'adequate' to 'good' protection,
'poor' results were noted if the pedestrian
hits the front of the hood or the A-pillars. The bumper also provided 'good' protection to a pedestrian's legs but protection of the pelvis was mixed. The AEB system was also rated as 'weak' in tests of its pedestrian avoidance in daylight, and even worse, it supposedly does not even operate in low light conditions. In addition, the system reportedly cannot react to faster-moving road-users like cyclists.
So, has the Euro NCAP crash test results changed your mind about the all-new Suzuki Jimny? It's something worth considering since only one plant produces the Jimny for the entire world--Suzuki's Kosai plant in Japan.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bhHeNgfLGqU
