For enhanced safety, the front and rear seat shoulder belts of the Ford Ranger Raptor have pretensioners to tighten the seatbelts and eliminate dangerous slack in the event of a collision and force limiters to limit the pressure the belts will exert on the passengers. The Jeep Gladiator doesn’t offer pretensioners for its rear 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 Ranger Raptor are reminded to check the back seat if they opened the rear door before starting out. The Gladiator doesn’t offer a back seat reminder.
The Ranger Raptor has standard Post Collision Braking, which automatically apply the brakes in the event of a crash to help prevent secondary collisions and prevent further injuries. The Gladiator 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.
Over 200 people are killed each year when backed over by motor vehicles. The Ranger Raptor has a standard Reverse Brake Assist that uses rear sensors to monitor for objects to the rear and automatically applies the brakes to prevent a collision. The Gladiator doesn’t offer backup collision prevention brakes.
The Ranger Raptor’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 Gladiator doesn’t offer a lane departure warning system.
The Ranger Raptor has a standard 360-Degree Camera to allow the driver to see objects all around the vehicle on a screen. The Gladiator only offers a rear monitor and rear parking sensors that beep or flash a light. That doesn’t help with obstacles to the front or sides.
The Ranger Raptor has a standard blind spot warning system that 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 Gladiator’s blind spot costs extra.
To help make backing out of a parking space safer, the Ranger Raptor has standard Cross Traffic Alert, helping the driver avoid collisions. Jeep charges extra for Rear Cross Path Detection on the Gladiator.
The Ranger Raptor’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 Gladiator doesn’t offer a driver alert monitor.
Both the Ranger Raptor and the Gladiator have standard driver and passenger frontal airbags, front side-impact airbags, side-impact head airbags, height adjustable front shoulder belts, plastic fuel tanks, four-wheel antilock brakes, four-wheel drive, traction control, electronic stability systems to prevent skidding and rearview cameras.
The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration does 35 MPH front crash tests on new vehicles. In this test, results indicate that the Ford Ranger Raptor is safer than the Jeep Gladiator:
|
Ranger Raptor |
Gladiator |
OVERALL STARS |
5 Stars |
4 Stars |
|
Driver |
|
STARS |
5 Stars |
4 Stars |
HIC |
110 |
220 |
Neck Injury Risk |
29% |
34.9% |
Neck Stress |
281 lbs. |
292 lbs. |
Neck Compression |
34 lbs. |
91 lbs. |
Leg Forces (l/r) |
144/203 lbs. |
576/707 lbs. |
|
Passenger |
|
STARS |
5 Stars |
5 Stars |
HIC |
157 |
180 |
Chest Compression |
.4 inches |
.7 inches |
Neck Stress |
152 lbs. |
243 lbs. |
Neck Compression |
75 lbs. |
84 lbs. |
Leg Forces (l/r) |
210/102 lbs. |
276/341 lbs. |
New test not comparable to pre-2011 test results. More stars = Better. Lower test results = Better.