Jeep Wrangler tips over in 2 crash tests by auto safety group

The 2020 Jeep Wrangler tipped onto its side after striking a barrier during crash tests conducted by the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety, earning the SUV a marginal rating in the group's driver-side small overlap front-crash test.

The small overlap crash test involves a 40-mph frontal impact with 25 percent of the front of the vehicle overlapping the barrier. A marginal rating is the second worst of four possible results.

The Wrangler — Jeep's second-best seller in the U.S. and globally in 2019 — was evaluated in three separate driver-side small overlap crash tests — one by Fiat Chrysler Automobiles and two audit tests by the institute. In both tests conducted by the institute, the vehicle tipped onto its passenger side. The four-door Wrangler did not tip over in the test submitted by FCA.

"Our engineers were surprised by the partial rollover, as this is the first time we've seen it happen in one of our consumer information ratings crash tests," said Joe Young, spokesman for the institute, a nonprofit group funded by auto insurance companies.

The Wrangler was reengineered and redesigned for the 2018 model year, and the IIHS tests are the first by the group to evaluate the model's crashworthiness.

IIHS said the driver's space was "well-maintained and the dummy's movement was well-controlled" during the driver-side small overlap test. But the partial rollover and risk of ejection "is a particular concern in the Wrangler, which has a roof and doors that can be removed," IIHS added.

The Wrangler performed well by the normal metrics the institute uses to rate a vehicle, Young said, and earned good ratings in other evaluations such as overlap front, side, roof strength and head restraints and seats.

"The partial rollover, however, presents additional injury risk beyond what the test is intended to measure and is not an acceptable outcome for a frontal crash," Young said. "As a result, we downgraded its overall rating to marginal."

FCA questioned whether the outcome was related to the method the institute's engineers used to attach the vehicle to the crash propulsion system, according to the institute's news release Thursday. The institute agreed to conduct a second test using a method approved by FCA. That test also resulted in the vehicle tipping on its side.

"This is the first time one of our audit tests has resulted in a different outcome than the manufacturer's test," Young said.

FCA is working on addressing the situation, and the institute will retest the Wrangler afterward, he said.

"FCA has produced more than 500,000 of these vehicles," said Eric Mayne, a spokesman for the automaker. "By conservative estimate, they have accounted for 6.7 billion miles of on-road driving. From this population, we are unaware of any incidents that correlate to the vehicle dynamic portion of the IIHS test result."

IIHS said the Wrangler performed well in its roof strength evaluation and received a good rating.

The 2020 Jeep Wrangler earned a four-out-of-five-star frontal crash rating from NHTSA and a three-out-of-five-star rollover rating.

Mayne said the Wrangler "meets or exceeds all federal safety standards," adding "no single test determines vehicle safety."