In-depth reviews

Suzuki Jimny SUV - Reliability & safety (2018-2020)

Suzuki has a reputation for sturdy build quality but a three-star safety rating is disappointing

Carbuyer Rating

2.3 out of 5

Owners Rating

5.0 out of 5

Read owner reviews
Reliability & safety Rating

2.5 out of 5

Suzuki has a reputation for producing well built, reliable cars, but the Jimny scored a rather mediocre three-star Euro NCAP safety rating, thanks in part to its boxy, rather tinny, construction.

Suzuki Jimny reliability

The Jimny was too new to feature in our 2019 Driver Power survey but Suzuki as a brand did come a respectable eighth out of the 30 that were ranked. Around 12% of Suzuki owners experienced problems with their cars within the first year of ownership.

Safety

The Jimny was awarded three stars when it was crash-tested by Euro NCAP, which isn't particularly encouraging. The car comes with safety systems including Dual Sensor Brake Support (DSBS), which operates if the system determines there’s a risk of collision with a vehicle in front or a pedestrian. You also get lane-departure warning, high-beam assistance, traffic-sign recognition, hill-descent control, hill-hold control and six airbags.

However, the car's problems in crash-testing were mostly to do with how its construction fails to offer a high level of protection to adult occupants in accidents. An 84% score in the child occupant category was better, but only 50% in the safety assist category condemned the Jimny to its rather underwhelming crash safety score.

Richard is a former editor of Carbuyer, as well as sister site DrivingElectric.com, and he's now Deputy Editor at Auto Express. Having spent a decade working in the automotive industry, he understands exactly what makes new car buyers tick.

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