Wrangler - safety

[Anonymous]

Wow! It is funny how many people comment and have zero experience with owning a Wrangler. We just passed down my wife's 2015 to my daughter, it only has 215,000 on it! She loves it and actually takes it off road. Many of her friends love her Jeep, along with most of her teachers!! Top and doors were off all summer while jamming out to Taylor Swift!! Great memories are made driving up the beach to stay in Carova for a week with top and doors off while seeing the wild horses everyday. Not while driving a hybrid in city traffic. Face it kids deserve to have fun!! Many people on here absolutely HATE any car that is fun to own. Why do you guys enjoy driving boring crap cars??

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I've driven wranglers for almost 30 years and comfortably passed one down to my daughter (and will be getting one for her little sister soon). They are plenty safe if you drive them properly. If they scare you, don't drive one and don't give them to your teen. They are not terribly practical or comfortable but they can go places and do things that your Volvo can't. Plus, there is nothing better than taking the doors and top off and enjoying a warm, sunny day driving on the beach.

OP here. It’s not that I’m worried about her driving it safely. I’m worried about somebody else driving in safely and hitting her. And flipping the wrangler. Or the airbag not deploying. Or the passenger hitting the roof. All the things the IIHS notes.

Any and every accident is different. Sometimes rolling is the safest option. A kid from my daughter's school was hit in the side with a VW. The sun basically drove over top of him and he had to be cut out of it. Major life changing issues for him. He most likely would have been better off rolling over a couple of times.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I've driven wranglers for almost 30 years and comfortably passed one down to my daughter (and will be getting one for her little sister soon). They are plenty safe if you drive them properly. If they scare you, don't drive one and don't give them to your teen. They are not terribly practical or comfortable but they can go places and do things that your Volvo can't. Plus, there is nothing better than taking the doors and top off and enjoying a warm, sunny day driving on the beach.

OP here. It’s not that I’m worried about her driving it safely. I’m worried about somebody else driving in safely and hitting her. And flipping the wrangler. Or the airbag not deploying. Or the passenger hitting the roof. All the things the IIHS notes.

Any and every accident is different. Sometimes rolling is the safest option. A kid from my daughter's school was hit in the side with a VW. The sun basically drove over top of him and he had to be cut out of it. Major life changing issues for him. He most likely would have been better off rolling over a couple of times.

You’re insane.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Wow! It is funny how many people comment and have zero experience with owning a Wrangler. We just passed down my wife's 2015 to my daughter, it only has 215,000 on it! She loves it and actually takes it off road. Many of her friends love her Jeep, along with most of her teachers!! Top and doors were off all summer while jamming out to Taylor Swift!! Great memories are made driving up the beach to stay in Carova for a week with top and doors off while seeing the wild horses everyday. Not while driving a hybrid in city traffic. Face it kids deserve to have fun!! Many people on here absolutely HATE any car that is fun to own. Why do you guys enjoy driving boring crap cars??

Because most of the time the kid will be driving to more routine places like work and school, where you deal with commuting drivers in huge SUVs looking at their phones while running late to work.

Rent one for a beach weekend, reasonable esp if just tooling around town. Daily driver, terrible. And unreliable, despite perhaps your random good luck.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Wow! It is funny how many people comment and have zero experience with owning a Wrangler. We just passed down my wife's 2015 to my daughter, it only has 215,000 on it! She loves it and actually takes it off road. Many of her friends love her Jeep, along with most of her teachers!! Top and doors were off all summer while jamming out to Taylor Swift!! Great memories are made driving up the beach to stay in Carova for a week with top and doors off while seeing the wild horses everyday. Not while driving a hybrid in city traffic. Face it kids deserve to have fun!! Many people on here absolutely HATE any car that is fun to own. Why do you guys enjoy driving boring crap cars??

Because most of the time the kid will be driving to more routine places like work and school, where you deal with commuting drivers in huge SUVs looking at their phones while running late to work.

Rent one for a beach weekend, reasonable esp if just tooling around town. Daily driver, terrible. And unreliable, despite perhaps your random good luck.

Again someone who has never owned a Wrangler. For driving in high accident areas she drives my F150. The Wrangler is actually a great zip around town vehicle! Why do you say it isn't??

[Anonymous]

Buying a Wrangler for your new teen driver is about assessing risk. It’s arguably a riskier car to drive based on the safety ratings. But the chances of getting to the type of accident that would cause the car to flip or experience the types of things the IIHS flagged is probably low if your DC is doing short commutes yay avoid the beltway. So it’s probably not more unsafe than any other car in those circumstances.

Some people still would not even take that risk. Some would. Neither is wrong. You do you.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Noting the poor IIHS reviews on the 2019-2023 Wranglers, and also noting the massive number of Wranglers I see on the road. I know people probably cannot answer this question with any precision, but what gives? Do others just have a higher risk tolerance than I do? DC wants a Wrangler (and seems that most of the drivers I see on the road in a Wrangler are teens). Seems an easy choice - don't get one.

I’ve owned 6 Jeep CJ’s or Wranglers, since 1993. Current Jeep is a ‘16 4-door.

Please accept this advice from me as a subject matter expert when it comes to Jeeps:

Stop trying to understand why people enjoy them - you are incapable of it. Just put it out of your mind and move on with your life. I definitely would NOT recommend getting your kid one, because being the buzzkill you are, you’ll suck the joy of out it like an energy vampire. Get your kid a Volvo or whatever other car safety conscious people buy for their kids, and when they’re an adult and on their own, they can buy one if they still want one.

But don’t get one. You don’t get it, you don’t understand it, and you’ll hate it. So just pretend they don’t exist.

I FORBID you from owning one.


Clear?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I had a Wrangler after college. Back then Jeeps were a little more primitive- no AC, no auto transmission, no power windows, and they didn’t cost too much.

I have noticed Jeep pricing is pretty high. Especially considering they are rated about as poor as can be with regard to reliability. To OP’s concern, they also aren’t safe. Jeeps do poor in collision tests, handle poorly and are more prone to rollovers.

Take care of them and they are plenty reliable. Have never had a serious issue with any of the several wranglers I've owned.

+1

I’ve driven Jeeps off-road in some of the most remote places in this country, as well as to work every day, and I’ve never had one fail to get me home. Of all the cars I’ve owned, only Toyota’s and Jeeps have literally never failed me.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Wow! It is funny how many people comment and have zero experience with owning a Wrangler. We just passed down my wife's 2015 to my daughter, it only has 215,000 on it! She loves it and actually takes it off road. Many of her friends love her Jeep, along with most of her teachers!! Top and doors were off all summer while jamming out to Taylor Swift!! Great memories are made driving up the beach to stay in Carova for a week with top and doors off while seeing the wild horses everyday. Not while driving a hybrid in city traffic. Face it kids deserve to have fun!! Many people on here absolutely HATE any car that is fun to own. Why do you guys enjoy driving boring crap cars??

Yeah, it’s always worth noting how all the DCUM “experts” on the safety ratings or reliability scores for Wranglers never seem to own one - yet always speak with confident authority.

[Anonymous]

I LOVE my wrangler. I would not buy one for a teen, except the base model. The safety ratings are a bit misleading as which models did they test. We custom ordered ours and got every available safety feature. Our roof does not come off either but is basically a big sun roof. Most wranglers, not custom ordered don't have all the safety features. Also, we got metal bumpers so if we are going up against someone's plastic bumpers I'm assuming our metal ones would win. I've seen lots of posts in groups about accidents and many are doing very well and walking away. You can flip any vehicle.

The base model is really no different than a car or SUV. It's no higher off the ground than something like a RAV 4, the Sahara is higher and the Rubicon or a lifted Jeep is the issue.

If anything with heavy rains and when it does snow, given commuting and other things its been a huge help.

With that said, when my teens drive, they can drive it with us in the car but I wouldn't hand it over to them to drive alone nor would I buy them one (mainly price vs. I feel its unsafe).

I'd buy another in a heartbeat except the prices have gone up another $10K and I don't think I'd spend that for a second one given I'd custom order it again with the bumpers and all the safety features.

I'm assuming those ratings did not include all the available features because they aren't standard nor the steel bumpers.

Also, I've heard about reliability issues but we've only had a battery issue (second battery) twice. After having a nightmare on my last SUV (not Jeep) we got the extended warranty but its been very reliable.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Wow! It is funny how many people comment and have zero experience with owning a Wrangler. We just passed down my wife's 2015 to my daughter, it only has 215,000 on it! She loves it and actually takes it off road. Many of her friends love her Jeep, along with most of her teachers!! Top and doors were off all summer while jamming out to Taylor Swift!! Great memories are made driving up the beach to stay in Carova for a week with top and doors off while seeing the wild horses everyday. Not while driving a hybrid in city traffic. Face it kids deserve to have fun!! Many people on here absolutely HATE any car that is fun to own. Why do you guys enjoy driving boring crap cars??

Yeah, it’s always worth noting how all the DCUM “experts” on the safety ratings or reliability scores for Wranglers never seem to own one - yet always speak with confident authority.

Most of those tests don't include the optional safety features nor the metal bumpers.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I had a Wrangler after college. Back then Jeeps were a little more primitive- no AC, no auto transmission, no power windows, and they didn’t cost too much.

I have noticed Jeep pricing is pretty high. Especially considering they are rated about as poor as can be with regard to reliability. To OP’s concern, they also aren’t safe. Jeeps do poor in collision tests, handle poorly and are more prone to rollovers.

Clearly you haven't driven a new one if you think they handle poorly.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Buying a Wrangler for your new teen driver is about assessing risk. It’s arguably a riskier car to drive based on the safety ratings. But the chances of getting to the type of accident that would cause the car to flip or experience the types of things the IIHS flagged is probably low if your DC is doing short commutes yay avoid the beltway. So it’s probably not more unsafe than any other car in those circumstances.

Some people still would not even take that risk. Some would. Neither is wrong. You do you.

This is excellent advice.

And given what I imagine the children of most posters here are probably like - spoiled, privileged, accustomed to always having their way and never hearing “no”, and most importantly having spent a decade watching their parents drive like complete a**holes - I can definitely understand why so many DCUM parents are hesitant to get their little sociopaths a Jeep. Because they know their kids will probably drive just like they do, and get themselves killed.

So yeah, this is good advice. It depends on the kid. And for most DCUM kids, it’s a bad choice.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Buying a Wrangler for your new teen driver is about assessing risk. It’s arguably a riskier car to drive based on the safety ratings. But the chances of getting to the type of accident that would cause the car to flip or experience the types of things the IIHS flagged is probably low if your DC is doing short commutes yay avoid the beltway. So it’s probably not more unsafe than any other car in those circumstances.

Some people still would not even take that risk. Some would. Neither is wrong. You do you.

This is excellent advice.

And given what I imagine the children of most posters here are probably like - spoiled, privileged, accustomed to always having their way and never hearing “no”, and most importantly having spent a decade watching their parents drive like complete a**holes - I can definitely understand why so many DCUM parents are hesitant to get their little sociopaths a Jeep. Because they know their kids will probably drive just like they do, and get themselves killed.

So yeah, this is good advice. It depends on the kid. And for most DCUM kids, it’s a bad choice.

If a kid is a bad or dangerous driver a bad accident in any vehicle is a problem.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Noting the poor IIHS reviews on the 2019-2023 Wranglers, and also noting the massive number of Wranglers I see on the road. I know people probably cannot answer this question with any precision, but what gives? Do others just have a higher risk tolerance than I do? DC wants a Wrangler (and seems that most of the drivers I see on the road in a Wrangler are teens). Seems an easy choice - don't get one.

I’ve owned 6 Jeep CJ’s or Wranglers, since 1993. Current Jeep is a ‘16 4-door.

Please accept this advice from me as a subject matter expert when it comes to Jeeps:

Stop trying to understand why people enjoy them - you are incapable of it. Just put it out of your mind and move on with your life. I definitely would NOT recommend getting your kid one, because being the buzzkill you are, you’ll suck the joy of out it like an energy vampire. Get your kid a Volvo or whatever other car safety conscious people buy for their kids, and when they’re an adult and on their own, they can buy one if they still want one.

But don’t get one. You don’t get it, you don’t understand it, and you’ll hate it. So just pretend they don’t exist.

I FORBID you from owning one.


Clear?

OP here. These posts - other than this one - have been very informative and helpful. But the PP who forbids me from getting a Jeep seems unhinged. Sorry I triggered you, snowflake. I’m not questioning YOUR entire life, just looking for some perspective. Go pet your little duckies and take a pill.