For enhanced safety, the front and rear seat shoulder belts of the Ford Escape have pretensioners to tighten the seatbelts and eliminate dangerous slack in the event of a collision and force limiters to limit the pressure the belts will exert on the passengers. The Jeep Wrangler doesn’t offer pretensioners for the rear seat belts.
The Ford Escape has a standard driver’s side knee airbag mounted low on the dashboard. The knee airbag helps prevent the driver from sliding under the seatbelts or the main frontal airbag; this keeps the driver better positioned during a collision for maximum protection. A knee airbag also helps keep the legs from striking the dashboard, preventing knee and leg injuries in the case of a serious frontal collision. The Wrangler doesn’t offer knee airbags.
The Escape has standard front and rear seat side-impact airbags and head airbags, which act as a forgiving barrier between the passengers and the door. Combined with high-strength steel door beams this system increases protection from broadside collisions. The Wrangler doesn't offer rear-seat side-impact airbags, only ones for front seat occupants.
The Escape has standard Automatic Emergency Braking, which use forward mounted sensors to warn the driver of a possible collision ahead. If the driver doesn’t react and the system determines a collision is imminent, it automatically applies the brakes at full-force in order to reduce the force of the crash or avoid it altogether. The Wrangler offers an available collision warning system without the automated brake feature that would prevent or reduce the collision if the driver fails to react.
The Escape has standard Post Collision Braking, which automatically apply the brakes in the event of a crash to help prevent secondary collisions and prevent further injuries. The Wrangler doesn’t offer a post collision braking system: in the event of a collision that triggers the airbags, more collisions are possible without the protection of airbags that may have already deployed.
Over 200 people are killed each year when backed over by motor vehicles. The Escape Titanium has a standard backup collision prevention system that uses rear sensors to monitor and automatically apply the brakes to prevent a rear collision. The Wrangler doesn’t offer backup collision prevention brakes.
The Escape’s lane departure warning system alerts a temporarily inattentive driver when the vehicle begins to leave its lane and gently nudges the vehicle back towards its lane. The Wrangler doesn’t offer a lane departure warning system.
The Escape SEL/Titanium has standard Parking Sensors to help warn the driver about vehicles, pedestrians or other obstacles behind or, for the Escape Titanium in front of the vehicle. The Wrangler doesn’t offer a front parking aid.
The Escape has a standard blind spot warning system which uses sensors to alert the driver to objects in the vehicle’s blind spots where the side view mirrors don’t reveal them. A system to reveal vehicles in the Wrangler’s blind spot costs extra.
To help make backing out of a parking space safer, the Escape has a standard rear cross-path warning system, which uses sensors in the rear bumper to alert the driver to vehicles approaching from the side, helping the driver avoid collisions. Only the Wrangler Sport S/Sahara/Rubicon offers a rear cross-path warning system and it costs extra.
The Escape’s driver alert monitor detects an inattentive driver then sounds a warning and suggests a break. According to the NHTSA, drivers who fall asleep cause about 100,000 crashes and 1500 deaths a year. The Wrangler doesn’t offer a driver alert monitor.
For better protection of the passenger compartment, the Escape uses safety cell construction with a three-dimensional high-strength frame that surrounds the passenger compartment. It provides extra impact protection and a sturdy mounting location for door hardware and side impact beams. The Wrangler uses a body-on-frame design, which has no frame members above the floor of the vehicle.
Both the Escape and the Wrangler have standard driver and passenger frontal airbags, front side-impact airbags, height adjustable front shoulder belts, four-wheel antilock brakes, traction control, electronic stability systems to prevent skidding, rearview cameras and available all wheel drive.
The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration does 35 MPH front crash tests on new vehicles. In this test, results indicate that the Ford Escape is safer than the Jeep Wrangler:
|
Escape |
Wrangler |
OVERALL STARS |
5 Stars |
4 Stars |
|
Driver |
|
STARS |
5 Stars |
4 Stars |
HIC |
143 |
187 |
Neck Injury Risk |
22.5% |
31% |
Neck Stress |
185 lbs. |
299 lbs. |
Neck Compression |
23 lbs. |
72 lbs. |
Leg Forces (l/r) |
188/315 lbs. |
926/731 lbs. |
|
Passenger |
|
STARS |
5 Stars |
4 Stars |
HIC |
102 |
202 |
Chest Compression |
.5 inches |
.6 inches |
Neck Stress |
181 lbs. |
188 lbs. |
Neck Compression |
58 lbs. |
81 lbs. |
Leg Forces (l/r) |
220/169 lbs. |
380/742 lbs. |
New test not comparable to pre-2011 test results. More stars = Better. Lower test results = Better.
A significantly tougher test than their original offset frontal crash test, the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety does 40 MPH small overlap frontal offset crash tests. In this test, where only 25% of the total width of the vehicle is struck, results indicate that the Ford Escape is safer than the Wrangler 4-door:
|
Escape |
Wrangler |
Overall Evaluation |
GOOD |
MARGINAL |
Restraints |
GOOD |
GOOD |
Head Neck Evaluation |
GOOD |
GOOD |
Head injury index |
80 |
101 |
Peak Head Forces |
0 G’s |
0 G’s |
Steering Column Movement Rearward |
0 cm |
2 cm |
Chest Evaluation |
GOOD |
GOOD |
Hip & Thigh Evaluation |
GOOD |
GOOD |
Femur Force R/L |
.1/0 kN |
.5/.1 kN |
Hip & Thigh Injury Risk R/L |
0%/0% |
0%/0% |
Lower Leg Evaluation |
GOOD |
GOOD |
Tibia index R/L |
.42/.33 |
.51/.38 |
Tibia forces R/L |
1.1/.1 kN |
2.1/1 kN |
Instrumented handling tests conducted by the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration and analysis of its dimensions indicate that the Escape, with its four-star roll-over rating, is 9.3% to 11% less likely to roll over than the Wrangler, which received a three-star rating.
For its top level performance in IIHS driver and passenger-side small overlap frontal, moderate overlap frontal, side impact, roof strength and head restraint tests, its standard vehicle-to-vehicle front crash prevention system, its standard vehicle-to-pedestrian front crash prevention system, and its available headlight’s “Acceptable” rating, the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety grants the Escape the rating of “Top Pick” for 2021, a rating granted to only 137 vehicles tested by the IIHS. The Wrangler is not a “Top Pick.”