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 Venza are reminded to check the back seat if they opened the rear door before starting out. The Cherokee doesn’t offer a back seat reminder.
The Venza has a standard Secondary Collision Brake, which automatically applies the brakes in the event of a crash to help prevent secondary collisions and prevent further injuries. The Cherokee 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.
To provide maximum traction and stability on all roads, All-Wheel Drive is standard on the Venza. But it costs extra on the Cherokee.
The Venza Limited has a standard Panoramic View Monitor to allow the driver to see objects all around the vehicle on a screen. The 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.
The Venza’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 Cherokee doesn’t offer a driver alert monitor.
Both the Venza and the 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, 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 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 Toyota Venza is safer than the Jeep Cherokee:
|
Venza |
Cherokee |
|
Driver |
|
STARS |
4 Stars |
4 Stars |
HIC |
152 |
204 |
Neck Injury Risk |
29.3% |
38.2% |
Neck Stress |
306 lbs. |
408 lbs. |
Leg Forces (l/r) |
400/388 lbs. |
368/516 lbs. |
|
Passenger |
|
STARS |
5 Stars |
5 Stars |
Chest Compression |
.4 inches |
.5 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 Venza is 1.4% to 1.9% less likely to roll over than the Cherokee.
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 Venza the rating of “Top Safety Pick” for 2022, a rating granted to only 169 vehicles tested by the IIHS. The Cherokee has not been fully tested, yet.