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Are MJ's....actually safe?


Classy Comanche
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I got to looking at my MJ one day this week and it almost looks like they don't come with airbags....do they? The centre peice on the steering wheel looks way to small. The passenger side doesn't look like it has a give section like on traditional cars on the dash. I don't really want to find out the hard way. I didn't know if anyone else here knows. I drive it extremely careful anyway.

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XJs started getting them in like 94 for the driver.  I guess you could retrofit it assuming you can grab all the wiring?  but first gen airbags don't really get very high reviews. :(

 

wear your seatbelt and drive like everyone is out to get you.  that way you'll be ready for when they do.  :L:  

 

and if you're worried about safety stats, don't go looking up the XJ rollover ratings...  :peep: 

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I mean, kind of a silly question--what 30-40 year old vehicle, at any point in time (i.e. in 1980, cars from 1940-50), was considered safe? Industry is constantly making cars safer with more features than what was available in the 80s/90s, that's for sure.

 

I think MJs are more dangerous now since there's a ton of folks on the road that love using their phone when they drive, but I digress (a bit, lol)

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Not only no, hell no. The 97+ XJ with all of its safety improvements over the MJ and similar era XJs scored a "Marginal" in the IIHS's 40 mph moderate overlap front crash test... by 1997 standards. What they considered marginal then would be "beyond deathtrap" now.

 

https://www.iihs.org/ratings/vehicle/Jeep/cherokee-4-door-suv/1997

 

That's with airbags, with additional structural improvements that didn't exist in the MJ's time.

 

The 1995-1996 airbag is mechanical and completely standalone. It's inertially fired by a mechanism inside of the airbag itself, which would make it a good candidate for an easy swap. But an airbag can only do so much when the entire structure of the vehicle will collapse around you in a crash. And yes, this also means that the airbag will go off if you drop it hard enough.

 

364.jpg?w=480

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Yeah… it’s a 3000lb truck in a world where newer equivalently sized vehicles are 4000. We’ve seen enough crashed to know they crumple like pop cans. Put it on its lid and it’ll crush the roof down on you. And that’s before considering many of us don’t still have the full weight of steel they had from the factory still hanging around. It’s the trade off of driving classics. Modern cars are better in so many ways… doesn’t make me want to go buy one though.

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Well then....this is nice to know! I drive around like everyone can't drive or are stupid so I definitely got that on lock. Not saying I'll quit driving it but I'm going to....stop dailying it. There's been several times I almost pegged a deer head on and prayed everytime my old drum brakes would hold. They do. Just not good at all. So I'll drive it on weekends and get groceries rather than driving it everywhere I go. I now sort of understand why my grandparents were not really wanting to sell it to me. Due to no airbags and I could potentially be speared by the steering wheel and definitely eat dash. Good reliable engine and transmission at the cost of losing safety:laugh:

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7 minutes ago, Classy Comanche said:

Well then....this is nice to know! I drive around like everyone can't drive or are stupid so I definitely got that on lock. Not saying I'll quit driving it but I'm going to....stop dailying it. There's been several times I almost pegged a deer head on and prayed everytime my old drum brakes would hold. They do. Just not good at all. So I'll drive it on weekends and get groceries rather than driving it everywhere I go. I now sort of understand why my grandparents were not really wanting to sell it to me. Due to no airbags and I could potentially be speared by the steering wheel and definitely eat dash. Good reliable engine and transmission at the cost of losing safety:laugh:

There has been so many times for me in my Comanche where people have almost run stop signs and t-boned me,  or blown red lights, and when I go to swerve around them they swerve in front of where I’m going and brake, or the person in front of you stopping in the fast lane because they are about to miss their exit. The first day after I got my license I drove it, and pulling out of a farms blind driveway, looking through a mirror positioned to see traffic, I got halfway out and saw a pickup come flying up the road at 70+ on a backroad and narrowly not totaling my truck, so yeah I’d say drive extremely carefully and defensively, because if something happens the insurance won’t give you anything near what it’s worth to you. 

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My daughter and her insignificant other were in a wreck with the 98 XJ l gave them. Probably around 40mph into a very large Ash tree.

His airbag didn’t go off but he had his seatbelt on. Hers did go off but she didn’t have her seatbelt on. His face went into the windshield and it looked like he was cut up real bad with a razor knife but nothing deep.

She broke her arm in several places but otherwise unscathed.2DEBACC3-C099-4310-82ED-AEBB58E6F763.jpeg.fd2de40b431b84ebcd6580546b1bccfd.jpeg7F6C2964-CD47-4AD3-B3C3-D359BD751498.jpeg.294f382c8e1a7d58bf5fbe56ce343444.jpeg42435F77-EBA2-41B4-9FE4-BF4BD86C5071.jpeg.0459439ff9ca84133b322b184b05d06c.jpeg781F7197-D508-40F2-99D7-7FDC13A95A0B.jpeg.94724ceab05fcf631e529fae434f5b88.jpeg

 

EF88B266-8057-4998-A133-3875CB7ED28D.jpeg

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1 hour ago, Classy Comanche said:

Well then....this is nice to know! I drive around like everyone can't drive or are stupid so I definitely got that on lock. Not saying I'll quit driving it but I'm going to....stop dailying it. There's been several times I almost pegged a deer head on and prayed everytime my old drum brakes would hold. They do. Just not good at all. So I'll drive it on weekends and get groceries rather than driving it everywhere I go. I now sort of understand why my grandparents were not really wanting to sell it to me. Due to no airbags and I could potentially be speared by the steering wheel and definitely eat dash. Good reliable engine and transmission at the cost of losing safety:laugh:

Steering column is collapsible and *shouldn’t* spear you. In theory.

I suspect grandparents are more likely not to want to sell something meaningful to a younger driver.

My rule’s always been don’t crash, and you won’t need to experience the crash safety systems. Doesn’t always work out for everyone I guess, but just be aware of what everyone else appears to be doing, and try to be predictable in your driving. 

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Whew....yeah those pictures gave me chills. Definitely going to be even more careful even though I'm careful and drive slightly below the speed limit anyway. From what I'm imagining from what you guys are saying is its basically a tin can with wheels, engine and drivetrain that has class. I definitely have a different outlook while driving the MJ. My Monte Carlo feels like driving a battleship and has 3 engine strut braces. I guess a wary driver is a safe one!

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I drove my XJ’s and my MJ’s like l stole them. Last time l drove an XJ was that red 98 as my daily in 2021.

I’ll drive them the same way if l ever get another. They were some of the most fun vehicles I ever had.

Oh, I’m also nearly 60.

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1 hour ago, FrankTheDog said:

I drove my XJ’s and my MJ’s like l stole them. Last time l drove an XJ was that red 98 as my daily in 2021.

I’ll drive them the same way if l ever get another. They were some of the most fun vehicles I ever had.

Oh, I’m also nearly 60.

Yeah Frank I lived in your time too, first cars only had lap belts in a 300 + hp challenger. Didn’t stop me then won’t stop me now.  If you ever rode a bike on the road u become a very defensive driver. U see someone at a red light u don’t assume he won’t pull out in front of u. After time u become very aware of your surroundings 

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Ha! I've seen that sticker before on old rat rods and cars before. It would be so cool to get one for the truck but as sick, twisted and messed up drivers are these days I'd be afraid that would be some sort of incentive to just floor it and hit me or scare me off the road and end up in a accident or hit a tree

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On 3/7/2023 at 4:43 PM, Pete M said:

XJs started getting them in like 94 for the driver. 

 

Actually, '95, I believe. And only for the driver, correct. The passenger-side airbag didn't arrive until the 1997 make-over.

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On 3/7/2023 at 8:07 PM, Classy Comanche said:

Well then....this is nice to know! I drive around like everyone can't drive or are stupid so I definitely got that on lock. Not saying I'll quit driving it but I'm going to....stop dailying it. There's been several times I almost pegged a deer head on and prayed everytime my old drum brakes would hold. They do. Just not good at all. So I'll drive it on weekends and get groceries rather than driving it everywhere I go. I now sort of understand why my grandparents were not really wanting to sell it to me. Due to no airbags and I could potentially be speared by the steering wheel and definitely eat dash. Good reliable engine and transmission at the cost of losing safety:laugh:

 

My graduate school roommate's wife had a '92 or '93 XJ. She was hit head-on by a drunk driver, with two young children in the Jeep. She and the kids were uninjured. My roommate is a car nut. He credits the design of that "unsafe" XJ with having saved his wife's life.

 

And you won't get speared by the steering wheel. The steering column has a shear pin in it -- it'll collapse in an accident.

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On 3/7/2023 at 9:34 PM, Classy Comanche said:

Whew....yeah those pictures gave me chills. Definitely going to be even more careful even though I'm careful and drive slightly below the speed limit anyway. From what I'm imagining from what you guys are saying is its basically a tin can with wheels, engine and drivetrain that has class.

 

I don't think anyone has said that.

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at the end of the day, they are as safe as most small vehicles in the 80s.  which is to say they are safer than most anything made in the 70s and way safer than anything made before that.  but a modern car with modern crumple zones and airbags and stiff rollover requirements is just leaps and bounds ahead of the old stuff.  which is as it should be.  :L: 

 

but any car is safer than any motorcycle, so it's all relative and you have to choose what level your happy with.  :dunno: 

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