The Jeep Patriot was a smaller Jeep SUV that was fairly popular during its time. Sure, it was no Jeep Wrangler, but what is? Still, the Jeep Patriot was killed off in 2017, and you may be wondering why. Well, Jeep had some very good reasons for discontinuing this particular Jeep SUV model.

Was the Jeep Patriot really that bad?

It’s not so much that the Patriot was that bad as it was that it wasn’t so great. The Patriot first debuted in 2007, at the same time as the still-in-production Compass. So why did one Jeep SUV sibling thrive while the other died? One reason is that it wasn’t particularly well-equipped. The Patriot lacked some of the technology that other similarly-sized and priced SUVs had, including the Compass. In fact, it didn’t even have standard air-conditioning, which has pretty much become a given these days.

Over the years minor tweaks were made to the Patriot (including adding standard air-conditioning in 2008), but it was still discontinued after eleven years. The Compass lives on, as does the similarly-sized Jeep Renegade.

Jeep offered lots of choices in the Patriot

It seems that Jeep learned from its initial Patriot debut that customers wanted more in their SUVs. Still, it wasn’t enough to keep the Patriot alive. Yet the Patriot’s multitude of offerings may leave some wishing it was still an available Jeep model.

There were five 2017 Jeep Patriot models, according to MotorTrend. These included the Sport, Sport SE, Sport 75th Anniversary, Latitude, and High Altitude. Air conditioning in the lower three models was an add-on once again, which would have made the otherwise affordable Patriot less appealing. MotorTrend noted that the lack of tech in the Patriot was glaringly obvious until you reached the two higher-end models, the Latitude and High Altitude. Only then could you get an upgraded trim, better sound system, and climate control.

Why did they stop making the Patriot?

Although the Jeep Patriot’s sales were respectable, they weren’t quite great enough for Jeep to keep on producing it. Its lack of technology was a serious problem in this small SUV. This became more of an obstacle for Jeep to overcome as other small SUVs and crossover increasingly added standard technology to base models. Even though the Jeep Patriot was designed to be a capable off-roader, people were drawn to other manufacturers because of the Patriot’s bare-bones approach.

In addition, the Jeep Patriot’s safety ratings were never that great. It didn’t come with that much safety equipment, and even the 2017 model didn’t include some basic safety equipment that consumers are looking for. In addition, test results like the IIHS front small overlap on the driver side was poor, and the NHTSA overall frontal crash score was a measly three out of five stars.

When one considers the Jeep Patriot’s lack of technology and its poor to mediocre safety ratings, it’s no surprise that Jeep decided to discontinue the Patriot. However, there are still many Jeep SUV models out there that have done a great job replacing the Patriot.