Short answer: the current Jimny scored three stars out of five when Euro NCAP crash-tested it in 2018, and Australia’s ANCAP gave it the same three stars. Both ratings have now expired, so today the Jimny is officially unrated, and the 5-door has never been crash-tested at all. Below is what the testers actually found, what has changed since, and which South African Jimny comes with the most safety equipment.
The 2018 crash test results
Euro NCAP tested a European-spec Jimny 1.5 GLX 3-door weighing 1,095 kg, and published the result in September 2018. A star rating is built from four scores, and the Jimny’s were uneven: strong on child protection, middling on adults, weak on pedestrians and driver-assistance systems.
| Assessment area | Score | What it covers |
|---|---|---|
| Adult occupant | 73% (27.9 of 38 points) | Frontal, side, pole and rear-impact crashes, judged on the driver and passengers |
| Child occupant | 84% (41.3 of 49 points) | Child dummies in child seats, plus how easily seats fit |
| Vulnerable road users | 52% (25 of 48 points) | Pedestrians and cyclists struck by the car, and whether braking avoids them |
| Safety assist | 50% (6.5 of 13 points) | Emergency braking, lane support, speed assistance and seatbelt reminders |
Three stars is not a fail. It does mean the Jimny fell well short of a five-star car, and the reasons are worth knowing because some of them are built into the car and some are not.
What the testers found
Frontal crashes: the weakest area
In the frontal offset test, Euro NCAP reported that the driver’s airbag did not have enough pressure to stop it “bottoming out”, so the dummy’s head reached the steering wheel. The door frame deformed in an unstable way, and the score for the driver’s chest was penalised as a result, ending up rated weak. Knee and femur readings were good, but the testers marked them down to marginal because parts of the dashboard could hurt occupants of different sizes or sitting in different positions.
In the full-width test against a rigid barrier, protection of the rear passenger’s head was rated weak, and chest protection for both the driver and the rear passenger was marginal. These are structural results. No later equipment update changes how the body and airbags behave in a frontal crash.
Side crashes: full marks
The Jimny scored the maximum 16 points in the side-impact tests. The tested car had curtain airbags covering both rows and side airbags for the front seats, and the result shows they did their job. Rear-impact (whiplash) protection was rated marginal for the front seats.
Children
Child protection was the Jimny’s best area. The child dummies scored 23.4 of 24 points in the dynamic tests, and the rear outboard seats have ISOFIX anchorages. The tested car also had a switch to turn off the front passenger airbag, which you need if you ever fit a rear-facing child seat in front.
Pedestrians, cyclists and emergency braking
The upright nose that makes the Jimny look the way it does is hard on pedestrians. Head protection was poor at the front of the bonnet and on the stiff windscreen pillars, though leg protection was good. The car Euro NCAP tested had autonomous emergency braking, but it performed weakly in daylight pedestrian tests, did not work in low light, and could not react to cyclists at all. It scored 0 of 4 points in the city braking test, partly because Euro NCAP only awards those points when the seats also do well in the whiplash test, and the Jimny’s did not.
Lane support scored 0.3 of 4 points, because the car could warn the driver of drifting out of lane but not steer it back. Speed assistance was marginal: the driver could set a speed limiter, but the car could not read speed-limit signs.
Why the rating has expired
Both Euro NCAP and ANCAP give a rating a shelf life of six years, because their tests get tougher every couple of years and an old result stops being comparable with new ones. ANCAP lists the Jimny’s rating as expired in December 2024, and Euro NCAP marked its own result expired from 1 January 2025.
Expiry does not mean the car got worse. It means nobody has retested it to current standards, so the Jimny is now simply unrated. Because today’s protocols ask more of a car than those of 2018, particularly for driver-assistance systems and crashes between cars, there is no reason to expect a better score if the same car were tested again.
The 5-door has never been crash-tested
The 2018 rating only ever applied to the 3-door. The India-built 5-door, which arrived in 2023, has not been rated by Euro NCAP or ANCAP, and as far as we can find no other programme, including Global NCAP and Bharat NCAP, has tested it either. It is sold unrated in Australia, where it is called the Jimny XL.
It would be a mistake to assume the 5-door scores the same in either direction. Its wheelbase is 340 mm longer, it weighs about 90 to 105 kg more (1,185 to 1,215 kg in South African spec), and the extra doors change how the body is put together. Some of that could help in a crash and some of it could hurt. Without a test, nobody outside Suzuki knows.
Safety equipment on South African Jimnys
What you can control is the equipment. Here is what Suzuki Auto SA lists for each version. Prices are in our South African buying guide.
| Equipment | 3-door GLX | 3-door GLX with DSBS II | 5-door GL | 5-door GLX |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Airbags | Six | Six | Two front (see note) | Six |
| ABS, EBD and brake assist | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| Stability control (ESP) | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| Hill hold and hill descent | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| ISOFIX child-seat anchors | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| Automatic emergency braking | No | Yes, including pedestrians, cyclists and motorcycles | No | No |
| Lane departure warning and prevention | No | Yes | No | No |
| Adaptive cruise control | No | Yes | No | No |
| Weaving alert and automatic high beam | No | Yes | No | No |
| Parking aids | Rear sensors and camera | Front and rear sensors, rear camera | Rear sensors and camera | Rear sensors and camera |
A note on the 5-door GL’s airbags. Suzuki SA’s 5-door model page lists six airbags for the GLX only, which matches the spec at launch, while its specification table currently ticks side and curtain airbags for the GL as well. The two can’t both be right, so if airbags decide your choice, ask the dealer to show you the airbag count on the car you are buying.
The DSBS II pack (Dual Sensor Brake Support II) is a newer system than the one fitted to the car Euro NCAP tested in 2018, which used a camera and a laser sensor and could not see cyclists. Suzuki’s own notes on DSBS II describe a camera paired with a millimetre-wave radar, and Suzuki SA lists pedestrian, bicycle and motorcycle detection as part of the pack. It has not been through a Euro NCAP test on a Jimny, so treat it as better equipment rather than a proven score. Suzuki SA offers the pack on the 3-door GLX only, in manual and automatic.
One point that is easy to miss: the European car that earned the three stars had emergency braking as standard. A South African 3-door GLX without the pack has the same six airbags but no automatic braking, so on driver-assistance alone it is less equipped than the car that was rated.
What it means if you are buying one
The Jimny is a small, light car on a ladder frame, and that sets limits no option list can remove. In a collision with a double-cab bakkie, the physics favour the heavier vehicle. That does not make the Jimny a bad choice; it means the choices around it matter more.
- Buy the version with six airbags. That is any GLX. If you are looking at a 5-door GL, confirm the airbag count first.
- Take the DSBS II pack if you do long distances. Automatic braking and lane-departure prevention matter most on long, tiring highway trips, and the pack is the only way to get them on a Jimny in South Africa.
- Fit good tyres. ABS and ESP can only work with the grip the tyres give them, and cheap, worn or wrongly pressured tyres undo a lot of the car’s safety equipment.
- Think before you modify. A lift and bigger tyres raise the centre of gravity and change how the stability control behaves, and a heavy aftermarket bumper changes the front of the car that the crash tests were based on. Our lift kit guide covers what to check, and it is worth asking any bumper supplier whether their product is designed to work with the Jimny’s airbag system.
- Carry children in the back. Use the ISOFIX points in the rear outboard seats, and in the 3-door remember that getting a child seat in and out through the front doors takes more effort than in a 5-door.
If safety ranks at the top of your list, our honest look at the Jimny’s disadvantages puts the crash rating alongside its other compromises, and the 3-door vs 5-door comparison covers the rest of the difference between the two bodies.
Older Jimnys
The previous generation, sold from 1998 to 2018, was never rated by Euro NCAP or ANCAP. How much safety equipment one has depends on its year and market: early cars may have only front airbags and no ABS, while later cars added more. If you are buying a third-generation Jimny, check what that particular car has rather than assuming, and read our JB43 buyer’s guide first.
Frequently asked questions
Is the Suzuki Jimny a safe car?
It is safer than its size suggests in some ways and weaker in others. It scored three stars from Euro NCAP and ANCAP in 2018, with full marks in side impacts and good child protection, but weak results for the driver’s chest in a frontal crash and for pedestrians. Both ratings have since expired.
What is the Jimny’s NCAP rating?
Three stars out of five from Euro NCAP in 2018, with 73% for adult occupants, 84% for child occupants, 52% for vulnerable road users and 50% for safety assist. ANCAP adopted the same three stars. Euro NCAP’s rating expired on 1 January 2025 and ANCAP’s in December 2024.
Does the 5-door Jimny have a safety rating?
No. The 2018 test covered the 3-door only, and no crash-test programme has rated the 5-door since it launched in 2023. It is sold unrated in Australia.
How many airbags does the Jimny have?
Six on the 3-door GLX and 5-door GLX in South Africa: two front, two side and two curtain airbags. The 5-door GL had two front airbags at launch, and Suzuki SA’s own pages currently disagree on whether it now has more, so check the car.
Does the Jimny have automatic emergency braking in South Africa?
Only with the DSBS II safety pack, which Suzuki SA offers on the 3-door GLX. It adds emergency braking that can detect cars, pedestrians, cyclists and motorcycles, along with adaptive cruise control and lane departure prevention. The 5-door is not offered with it.
For more on choosing and owning one, see our JB74 complete guide, the JB74 common problems guide and our Jimny towing guide.
Sources: Euro NCAP 2018 Suzuki Jimny result; ANCAP Suzuki Jimny rating; Suzuki Auto SA 3-door and 5-door specifications and the 5-door model page (November 2026); Autocar Philippines and Rushlane on DSBS II replacing the laser system; MotoringNZ on the 5-door and the six-year rule. Header image: an AI-generated illustration.
Free Jimny Tool
Not sure which Jimny to buy?
Compare the Samurai, JB23, JB43 and JB74 side by side — engines, dimensions, kit and what changed between generations.