2020 Jeep Renegade crashes well, earns Top Safety Pick from IIHS
Every Renegade will keep drivers safe, but the best headlights are far from standard equipment.
Safe, but maybe not the best value.
The 2020 Jeep Renegade is one safe subcompact crossover, as the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety found when testing the model. The little Jeep's performance earned it a Top Safety Pick.
The IIHS ratings show the Renegade just squeaked by to meet the criteria for a Top Safety Pick with the bare minimum. It earned a Good rating in all but one crash test; in the small-overlap passenger-side test the Renegade scored an Acceptable rating. Anything under Acceptable would have disqualified the crossover.
The rest of the award is all based on optional equipment, unfortunately. The frontal-crash prevention technology is optional, which will cost buyers more money, but the IIHS rated it Superior. In both the 12 mph and 25 mph test, the Renegade's automatic emergency braking avoided a collision.
The headlights that sealed the Jeep's Top Safety Pick are also optional. Specifically, buyers will need to look at a Latitude, Altitude, Limited or High Altitude trim. The former three require the LED lighting group and an advanced technology package, while the High Altitude trim just requires the advanced technology package.
With all of this equipment, the IIHS rated the optional headlights Acceptable. Trims with only the LED lighting group scored Marginal, while models without the optional goods, which run basic halogen reflectors, earned the lowest score of Poor.
That makes the least expensive Renegade with all the gear tested to earn the safety award a $28,955 vehicle for a front-wheel drive Renegade Altitude trim. The price includes a $1,495 destination charge. That's a lot of money for a pretty small crossover. Also consider some of the safety technology is standard on many of the Renegade's competitors.
