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 Grand Cherokee are reminded to check the back seat if they opened the rear door before starting out. The QX55 doesn’t offer a back seat reminder.
When descending a steep, off-road slope, the Grand Cherokee Overland 4WD/Summit 4WD’s standard Hill-descent Control allows you to creep down safely. The QX55 doesn’t offer Hill-descent Control.
A passive infrared night vision system optional on the Grand Cherokee Trailhawk/Overland/Summit helps the driver to more easily detect people, animals or other objects in front of the vehicle at night. Using an infrared camera to detect heat, the system then displays the image on a monitor in the dashboard. The QX55 doesn’t offer a night vision system.
The Grand Cherokee Summit’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 QX55 doesn’t offer a driver alert monitor.
Both the Grand Cherokee and the QX55 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, crash mitigating brakes, daytime running lights, lane departure warning systems, blind spot warning systems, rearview cameras, rear cross-path warning, available all wheel drive and around view monitors.
Side impacts caused 23% of all road fatalities in 2018, down from 29% in 2003, when the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety introduced its side barrier test. In order to continue improving vehicle safety, the IIHS has started using a more severe side impact test: 37 MPH (up from 31 MPH), with a 4180-pound barrier (up from 3300 pounds). The results of this newly developed test demonstrates that the Jeep Grand Cherokee is safer than the QX55:
|
Grand Cherokee |
QX55 |
Overall Evaluation |
GOOD |
ACCEPTABLE |
Structure |
GOOD |
MARGINAL |
|
Driver Injury Measures |
|
Head/Neck |
GOOD |
GOOD |
Neck Compression |
45 lbs. |
89 lbs. |
Torso |
ACCEPTABLE |
ACCEPTABLE |
Torso Max Deflection |
1.34 in |
1.73 in |
Torso Deflection Rate |
7 MPH |
9 MPH |
Pelvis |
ACCEPTABLE |
MARGINAL |
Pelvis Force |
1004 lbs. |
1316 lbs. |
Head Protection |
GOOD |
GOOD |
|
Passenger Injury Measures |
|
Head/Neck |
GOOD |
GOOD |
Torso |
GOOD |
GOOD |
Pelvis |
GOOD |
GOOD |
Head Protection |
GOOD |
GOOD |
For its performance in IIHS driver-side and passenger-side small overlap frontal, moderate overlap frontal, updated side impact, headlight, daytime pedestrian crash prevention, and nighttime pedestrian crash prevention testing, the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety grants the Grand Cherokee its highest rating: “Top Safety Pick Plus” for 2023, a rating granted to only 36 vehicles tested by the IIHS. The QX55 has not been fully tested, yet.