New member. Previous owner of a TJ. Considering buying a JK. Just wanted to post and see if there are any strong opinions regarding the highway safety of the JK . When I owned the TJ I didn't have kids and it was mainly an offload toy. Not much highway drive time. Now that I have kids and the fact that this would be my primary vehicle I am more concerned about safety. Any feedback is appreciated. Thanks!!!

 

My 2-door tends to drift around a lot. I don't trust it at all when it comes to safety, but that's any wrangler

 

I drove a YJ before having kids and moving up to an Unlimited. The longer wheelbase and wider stance definitely makes the Jeep more stable, even lifted on 35s. I have no reservations about driving on the highway with my girls in back.

 

As a primary vehicle and having kids an Unlimited is what you should look at. My only vehicles are JKs but I don't have a 4 door to say how it is. With more than 20,000 road miles per year I can say mine are very capable road vehicles and they are extremely capable off road vehicles. I haven't seen any steering or wandering issues.

 

The Wall St Journal happened to have a fairly extensive intrview that also addressed safety. Hopefully these links work:

http://online.wsj.com/article/SB1000...294337136.html

http://live.wsj.com/video/dan-neil-j...3-E464551F47A8

 

Thanks for the feedback! I feel like after your feedback and watching the posted interview....that it really depends on how the jeep is set up. Tires...lift...ect.

 

As someone who drive a jk 2.5 lift on 34 100+ miles a day and I drive it like I stole it I have NEVER felt like I was losing control of the vehicle there has only been 2 moments where the ass has slid out on me and both times where in the rain and my falt for goosing the throttle and even then the ecs was quick to correct me I currently have 7.8k miles on my truck buying in june 8th those write up personally I find to be wrong

 

Good to know that these jeeps don't necessarily have to be babied on the highway. What do you all think about the impact ratings on them compared to other 4door SUV style vehicles?

 

I have a 2 door and a 3 year old and the jeep drives fine on the highway. He's been riding in it since the wife got preggers. Never had any issues except for the fact that I have to old 3.8L and it could use a bit more power. We do need more room so it's off to look at a JKU for next year!

 

The impact ratings on the Jk's is not good for either frontal or side. The JK has no side impact door beams to speak of and it performed poorly in off set crash test. That being said there is a lot that can be done by you to greatly improve it's crash worthiness.

With a quality aftermarket bumper like ones from ARB or AEV the frontal/rear impact damage can be GREATLY reduced over the stock bumpers. With the addition of quality rock rails the side impact damage should be mitigated (vs stock) in that the rock rails will work like side impact beams. If you install a mild lift in the 2-3 inch range they may work even better.

In my former life I had a good deal of experience with vehicle accidents and had many opportunities to view what cars/trucks did to one another when they collided. By far the trucks with good after market bumpers faired better than those without. I have seen a "T BONED" lifted Jeep TJ (the predecessor of the JK) and had it not been for the rock rails it would have been ugly for the driver.


When compared to other SUVs in it's segment, there are better when it comes to crash safety, but none that will give the off road performance or the ability to customize it to your needs like the JK can.