For enhanced safety, the front seat shoulder belts of the Jeep Renegade are height-adjustable to accommodate a wide variety of driver and passenger heights. A better fit can prevent injuries and the increased comfort also encourages passengers to buckle up. The MINI Countryman doesn’t offer height-adjustable seat belts.
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 Countryman doesn’t offer a whiplash protection system.
The Insurance Institute for Highway Safety tests front crash prevention systems. With a score of 6 points, IIHS rates the Active Braking optional in the Renegade as “Superior.” The Countryman scores only 3 points and is rated only “Advanced.”
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 for objects to the rear and automatically applies the brakes to prevent a collision. The Countryman 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 Countryman.
When descending a steep, off-road slope, the Renegade Trailhawk’s standard Hill-descent Control allows you to creep down safely. The Countryman doesn’t offer Hill-descent Control.
The Renegade’s blind spot warning system uses sensors to alert the driver to objects in the vehicle’s blind spots where the side view mirrors don’t reveal them. The Countryman doesn’t offer a system to reveal objects in the driver’s blind spots.
To help make backing out of a parking space safer, the Renegade’s standard Rear Cross Path Detection uses sensors in the rear to alert the driver to vehicles approaching from the side, helping the driver avoid collisions. The Countryman doesn’t offer a rear cross-path warning system.
Both the Renegade and the Countryman have standard driver and passenger frontal airbags, front side-impact airbags, driver knee airbags, side-impact head airbags, front seatbelt pretensioners, plastic fuel tanks, four-wheel antilock brakes, traction control, electronic stability systems to prevent skidding, lane departure warning systems, rearview cameras, available daytime running lights and rear parking sensors.
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 191 vehicles tested by the IIHS. The Countryman has not been fully tested, yet.