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| The Suzuki Jimny’s performance in testing betrays its ostensibly rugged exterior. As a completely new vehicle, it should offer far more protection to drivers in the event of an accident. Its safety technology did not perform optimally either. The youthful audience the Suzuki Jimny has been designed for deserve better in terms of passive and active safety. |
| The Jimny was marked down in several areas, including its adult occupant protection of 73 percent. The rating was caused both by a driver’s airbag which doesn’t quite inflate with enough pressure to stop the head from coming into contact with the steering wheel rim, and because of the potential for deformity around the front door pillars in the front offset impact test, which contributed to a weak rating for the driver’s torso. The front seats only offer marginal whiplash protection in the event of a rear impact. Child occupant protection was good overall, with the Jimny scoring 84 percent; however marks were lost in the vulnerable road users category as a result of stiff windscreen pillars. It scored its lowest marks in the safety tech category. |
| The 50 per cent rating was awarded due to the fact that the autonomous emergency braking system struggled to spot pedestrians in low light and was unable to detect cyclists, at all. |
| If you live in a market where it’s sold, I’m not saying don’t buy a Jimny, as it sounds pretty fun otherwise. Just... take some care not to wreck it, that’s all. |
| More than decent the entry-level Comfort includes air conditioning, CD player with MP3 playback, DAB radio, Bluetooth connectivity, front power windows, cruise control with speed limiter, heated front seats, height-adjustable multifunction steering wheel, power mirrors, light sensor, and fog lights. Upgrading to the four-speed automatic transmission costs €1,180. The other trim level available in Germany is Comfort+, offered exclusively with the five-speed manual gearbox. Available from €19,985 ($23,330), it’s more content-rich thanks to features like LED headlights, automatic climate control, an audio system with smartphone connectivity and navigation, leather steering wheel, heated mirrors, and a cargo box. The only optional extras are the metallic paint (€500) and two-tone metallic paint scheme (€330) — the latter only available for the Comfort+. |
| The car launches in January, and demand is already building. And why wouldn't people be queuing up? The Jimny is quite unlike anything on sale, with an expected price point of around $25,000 before on-road costs (topping out under $30k), properly hardcore four-wheel drive ability putting anything this side of a Jeep Wrangler to shame, and retro-cool looks. It’s basic, but charm is in short supply at times these days. |
| Market pundits point out it’s almost unique in being a three-door; superior demand for small five-doors promises a bigger selling Suzuki SUV with more doors very soon. |
| In the frontal offset test, there was insufficient pressure in the driver's airbag to prevent it from 'bottoming out', allowing the head to contact the steering wheel. The score for the head was penalised for the behaviour of the airbag and the displacement of the steering wheel, and protection for this part of the body was rated as marginal. The passenger compartment was extensively deformed in the offset test, especially around the door-frame and the score for the driver's chest was penalised for this unstable collapse. Combined with marginal dummy readings, protection for this body area was rated as weak. Although dummy readings indicated good protection of the knees and femurs of both driver and passenger, structures in the instrument panel and dashboard were thought to pose a risk of injury to occupants of different sizes, and protection was rated as marginal. In the full-width, rigid-barrier impact protection of the head of the rear passenger dummy was rated as weak, based on dummy readings during the test and protection of the chest of both driver and rear passenger was marginal. Tests on the front seats and head restraints showed marginal protection against whiplash injury in a rear impact. A geometric assessment of the rear seats indicated good protection. The standard-fit autonomous emergency braking (AEB) system performed well in tests of its functionality at the low speeds, typical of city driving, at which many whiplash injuries are caused. However, the Jimny did not qualify for these points as Euro NCAP requires good head restraint performance as a pre-requisite for AEB points. |
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Originally Posted by shortbread
(Post 4472281)
If they do launch this in India and skimp on equipment, wonder how safe that would be? |
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