It’s tempting to think that all new cars have good safety ratings. After all, car manufacturers and safety technology have come so far over the last couple of decades. How could anyone possibly be making an SUV that isn’t safe? Unfortunately, it does happen. Although safety technology has definitely improved, and cars, trucks, minivans, and SUVs are safer than ever, they’re not perfect. There are the safest SUVs and then there are those you may want to avoid. These are some new SUVs with less than perfect safety ratings.

The 2021 Dodge Durango is not one of the safest SUVs

The 2021 Dodge Durango has a lot going for it. It’s spacious, stylish, and pretty fast. Yet it’s lacking one key thing; safety. The 2021 Dodge Durango gets only a marginal for its small overlap, driver test from the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety (IIHS). 

In addition, the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) gives it just four out of five stars for its overall crash, overall frontal-crash, and overall frontal-crash, driver and passenger side tests. It also gets a less-than optimal three out of five stars for its 4WD rollover rating.

The 2021 Jeep Grand Cherokee has a poor small overlap, passenger rating

The small overlap tests measure how well a car does when the front left corner of the vehicle hits something like a tree or another car. The IIHS first started doing these tests in 2012. The 2021 Jeep Grand Cherokee has only a marginal rating for its small overlap, driver test. It also has a poor rating for its small overlap, passenger side rating.

Additionally, the NHTSA gives it only four stars for its overall frontal-crash rating, as well as the overall frontal-crash, driver side rating. The 2WD rollover rating gets only three stars. 

The 2021 Toyota 4Runner isn’t one of the safest SUVs

Toyotas are thought to be safe, but the 2021 Toyota 4Runner has less than stellar crash test ratings. The IIHS front small overlap, driver side crash test rating is only marginal. 

The NHTSA gives the 2021 4Runner four stars for its overall crash, overall frontal-crash, and overall frontal-crash, driver side tests. In addition, the overall frontal-crash rating on the passenger side is just three stars. 

Rollover ratings for the 2021 Toyota 4Runner aren’t good. Both the 2WD and 4WD ratings are both just three stars.

The 2021 Jeep Wrangler could be better

In addition to tipping over in crash tests, the 2021 Jeep Wrangler doesn’t have great crash test ratings. The IIHS gives the 2021 Wrangler only a marginal rating for the small overlap, driver side test. 

The NHTSA gives the 2021 Jeep Wrangler just four stars for its overall frontal-crash test, as well as overall frontal-crash rating on the driver and passenger sides. Its 4WD rollover rating is only three out of five stars. 

If you’re in the market for a new SUV, don’t just assume that all new SUVs are automatically safe. As you can see, it isn’t true. With any SUV that you’re looking at, you need to research its safety ratings. The IIHS and NHTSA website are great places to learn about their crash tests, and what the results mean. There are plenty of SUVs with great safety ratings out there.