The Renegade has standard Active Headrests, which use a specially designed headrest to protect the driver and front passenger from whiplash. During a rear-end collision, the Active Headrests system moves the headrests forward to prevent neck and spine injuries. The Trax doesn’t offer a whiplash protection system.
The Renegade (except Trailhawk) has a standard Active Braking, which uses 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 Trax doesn't offer collision warning or crash mitigation brakes.
Over 200 people are killed each year when backed over by motor vehicles. The Renegade Limited offers optional Park Assist with Rear Stop that uses rear sensors to monitor and automatically apply the brakes to prevent a rear collision. The Trax doesn’t offer backup collision prevention brakes.
To provide maximum traction and stability on all roads, All-Wheel Drive is standard on the Renegade. But it costs extra on the Trax.
When descending a steep, off-road slope, the Renegade Trailhawk’s standard Hill-descent Control allows you to creep down safely. The Trax doesn’t offer Hill-descent Control.
The Renegade’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 Trax doesn’t offer a lane departure warning system.
The Renegade Limited offers optional ParkSense to help warn the driver about vehicles, pedestrians or other obstacles behind or in front of their vehicle. The Trax doesn’t offer a front parking aid.
The Renegade 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 Trax’s blind spot costs extra.
To help make backing out of a parking space safer, the Renegade 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 Trax LT offers a rear cross-path warning system and it costs extra.
Both the Renegade and the Trax 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, rearview cameras and available daytime running lights.
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 Jeep Renegade is safer than the Chevrolet Trax:
|
Renegade |
Trax |
|
Front Seat |
|
STARS |
5 Stars |
5 Stars |
Hip Force |
328 lbs. |
388 lbs. |
|
Into Pole |
|
STARS |
5 Stars |
5 Stars |
Max Damage Depth |
13 inches |
14 inches |
HIC |
314 |
382 |
Spine Acceleration |
39 G’s |
46 G’s |
Hip Force |
625 lbs. |
707 lbs. |
New test not comparable to pre-2011 test results. More stars = Better. Lower test results = Better.
For its top level performance in IIHS driver-side small overlap frontal, moderate overlap frontal, side impact, rear impact and roof-crush tests, with its optional front crash prevention system, its “Acceptable” rating in the new passenger-side small overlap crash test, and its available headlight’s “Acceptable” rating, the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety grants the Renegade the rating of “Top Safety Pick” for 2019, a rating granted to only 184 vehicles tested by the IIHS. The Trax was last qualified as only a “Top Safety Pick” in 2016.
The Jeep Renegade has a better fatality history. The Renegade was involved in fatal accidents at a rate 39.9% lower per vehicle registered than the Trax, according to the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety.