For enhanced safety, the front shoulder belts of the Chevrolet Blazer are height-adjustable, and the rear seat shoulder belts have child comfort guides to move the belt to properly fit children. A better fit can prevent injuries and the increased comfort also encourages children to buckle up. The Jeep Grand Cherokee has only front height-adjustable seat belts.
In the past twenty years hundreds of infants and young children have died after being left in vehicles, usually by accident. When turning the vehicle off, drivers of the Blazer are reminded to check the back seat if they opened the rear door before starting out. The Grand Cherokee doesn’t offer a back seat reminder.
The Blazer’s standard 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. A lane departure warning system costs extra on the Grand Cherokee.
The Blazer offers an optional HD Surround Vision to allow the driver to see objects all around the vehicle on a screen. The Grand Cherokee only offers a rear monitor and front and rear parking sensors that beep or flash a light. That doesn’t help with obstacles to the sides.
Both the Blazer and the Grand Cherokee have standard driver and passenger frontal airbags, front side-impact airbags, driver knee airbags, side-impact head airbags, front seatbelt pretensioners, height adjustable front shoulder belts, plastic fuel tanks, four-wheel antilock brakes, traction control, electronic stability systems to prevent skidding, daytime running lights, rearview cameras, available all wheel drive, blind spot warning systems and rear cross-path warning.
The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration does 35 MPH front crash tests on new vehicles. In this test, results indicate that the Chevrolet Blazer is safer than the Jeep Grand Cherokee:
|
Blazer |
Grand Cherokee |
OVERALL STARS |
5 Stars |
4 Stars |
|
Driver |
|
STARS |
5 Stars |
4 Stars |
Neck Injury Risk |
22% |
28% |
Neck Stress |
178 lbs. |
201 lbs. |
Leg Forces (l/r) |
104/435 lbs. |
401/317 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 Chevrolet Blazer is safer than the Grand Cherokee:
|
Blazer |
Grand Cherokee |
Overall Evaluation |
GOOD |
MARGINAL |
Restraints |
GOOD |
ACCEPTABLE |
Head Neck Evaluation |
GOOD |
GOOD |
Head injury index |
90 |
172 |
Peak Head Forces |
0 G’s |
0 G’s |
Steering Column Movement Rearward |
0 cm |
5 cm |
Chest Evaluation |
GOOD |
GOOD |
Max Chest Compression |
19 cm |
20 cm |
Hip & Thigh Evaluation |
GOOD |
GOOD |
Femur Force R/L |
.2/.1 kN |
4.9/2.3 kN |
Hip & Thigh Injury Risk R/L |
0%/0% |
3%/0% |
Lower Leg Evaluation |
GOOD |
MARGINAL |
Tibia index R/L |
.68/.58 |
1.06/.54 |
Tibia forces R/L |
.9/1.1 kN |
2.3/1.3 kN |
The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration does side impact tests on new vehicles. In this test, which crashes the vehicle into a flat barrier at 38.5 MPH and into a post at 20 MPH, results indicate that the Chevrolet Blazer is safer than the Jeep Grand Cherokee:
|
Blazer |
Grand Cherokee |
|
Rear Seat |
|
STARS |
5 Stars |
5 Stars |
Hip Force |
673 lbs. |
689 lbs. |
|
Into Pole |
|
STARS |
5 Stars |
5 Stars |
Max Damage Depth |
13 inches |
13 inches |
New test not comparable to pre-2011 test results. More stars = Better. Lower test results = Better.
Instrumented handling tests conducted by the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration and analysis of its dimensions indicate that the Blazer is 1.4% to 5.7% less likely to roll over than the Grand Cherokee.
For its top level performance in all IIHS frontal, side, rear impact and roof-crush tests, and its standard front crash prevention system, the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety grants the Blazer the rating of “Top Safety Pick” for 2017, a rating granted to only 203 vehicles tested by the IIHS. The Grand Cherokee was not even a “Top Safety Pick” for 2016.