The all-new 2019 Suzuki Jimny has realised a 3-star ANCAP with the crash tester claiming it has “structural and design weaknesses”.

ANCAP has awarded the all-new Suzuki Jimny (read our review of the Jimny HERE) a 3-star rating following local assessment of the international crash tests. ANCAP Chief Executive, James Goodwin, said: “The Jimny misses the mark with structural and design weaknesses, poor protection of pedestrians and cyclists, and lack of effective safety aids.

“Engineers observed a number of issues in the frontal offset test including excessive deformation of the passenger compartment, with penalties applied for loss of structural integrity, steering wheel and pedal intrusion and knee injury risk. Insufficient inflation of the driver’s airbag was also observed with the dummy contacting the steering wheel through the airbag, indicating reduced protection in more severe crashes.”

One area of criticism was the Jimny’s autonomous emergency braking system which wasn’t calibrated for cyclist detection or night-time functionality. “Weak performance was observed for its avoidance of pedestrians, and active lane keep assistance is not available,” ANCAP reported.

“The results show that the fundamentals of vehicle safety are still critical, and simply fitting an AEB system is not enough to earn a good rating. While marketed for off-road driving, these vehicles also spend much of their time on regular roads and buyers shouldn’t have to forego safety,” Mr Goodwin said.

Some consolation from ANCAP. The strongest area of performance in the assessment of the Jimny was Child Occupant Protection, for its ability to accommodate a range of child restraints in its two rear seats, “and provide good levels of protection to children in frontal and side crash scenarios”.

The Suzuki Jimny scored:

73% – Adult Occupant Protection
84% – Child Occupant Protection
52% – Vulnerable Road User Protection 50% – Safety Assist