If there’s one thing that has crossed the mind of many Jeep Wrangler shoppers, it’s the question of whether Jeep Wranglers tip over. It’s one of those things that you hear about happening, but aren’t sure whether there’s any truth to it or not. So are Wranglers safe? Are they prone to tipping? The Insurance Institute for Highway Safety (IIHS) tested a Jeep Wrangler, and what they found may have you rethinking your next Jeep purchase. 

Do Jeeps tip over easily?

SUVs tend to be more likely than other vehicles to tip over. This is largely due to the fact that they’re top-heavy. When a top-heavy vehicle is in a collision, it tends to tip. In fact, the 2019 Jeep Wrangler tipped over in IIHS tests. The tests performed by the IIHS are applicable to 2018-2021 models. 

It isn’t just the IIHS that found that the Jeep Wrangler was likely to tip over. The NHTSA also has the Wrangler on its list of vehicles most likely to tip over. 

It’s also the Jeep most likely to tip over. This is partly due to factors like the short wheelbase and high center of gravity.

The Jeep Wrangler was the first vehicle ever to tip over in the IIHS tests

The IIHS is a nonprofit organization “dedicated to reducing deaths, injuries and property damage from motor vehicle crashes through research and evaluation and through education of consumers, policymakers and safety professionals.” They test a whole bunch of vehicles and publish the results of their crash tests so that car shoppers can make informed decisions. In addition, they have Top Safety Pick and a Top Safety Pick+ awards which they give to the vehicles with the best crash test results. 

One of the tests the IIHS performs is the small overlap frontal test on both the driver and passenger sides. 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. To conduct the small overlap frontal tests, a vehicle travels at 40 mph and the front left or right portion of the car (depending on whether it’s the driver or passenger test) strikes a five-foot barrier. 

It was in the small overlap frontal, driver side test that the Jeep Wrangler tipped over. In fact, it tipped over twice. Before this, no vehicle had ever tipped over during an IIHS driver side small overlap frontal test. 

The IIHS says the rollover added to the risk of injury

In the driver side small overlap test, the Jeep Wrangler only received a marginal rating. According to the IIHS, the “partial rollover presents an additional injury risk beyond what the standard criteria are intended to measure in small overlap frontal crash tests. A vehicle tipping onto its side is not an acceptable outcome for a frontal crash and, as a result, the Wrangler’s overall rating was downgraded to marginal.”

While many other safety ratings for the 2021 Jeep Wrangler are good, there are other notable low ratings. In the side crash test ratings, the torso receives an acceptable. Rear passenger head protection only receives a marginal. Additionally, while some of the headlights receive a marginal rating, others receive a poor rating.

It seems that Jeep needs to seriously look at the Wrangler’s risk of tipping over in an accident. With the chance of injury being high in that type of accident, many prospective consumers would likely be nervous about buying a Wrangler knowing this is a risk. Hopefully Jeep can remedy the tip over risk so that people can feel safe buying Wranglers.