Jeep Patriot is Safer Than Originally Stated

For all you Patriots fans out there — the car, not the team — here are some more reasons to love your crossovers. In a rare omission, the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety has revised the 2008 Jeep Patriot’s frontal crash-test rating to Good, the highest acceptable rating. IIHS spokesman, Russ Rader said that a missing wire in the leg of a crash-test dummy resulted in the Patriot receiving an Acceptable rating, but with the wire in place, the Patriot’s rating improved to Good.

The 2008 Patriot’s side crash-test rating was also Good with the then-optional side curtain airbags, which are standard for 2009. Rear crash-tests ratings were only Acceptable, so the Patriot didn’t earn the Top Safety Pick designation.