Jeep Liberty SUV Rolls Over in Test -- 12/03/2001

A new Jeep Liberty two-wheel-drive sport-utility vehicle rolled over twice during an AutoWeek slalom driving test, the magazine has reported.

AutoWeek said it was the first such accident since the test sequence was introduced nearly a decade ago. It cautioned that drivers should heed warning labels about the handling of vehicles with high centers of gravity. Autoweek Link (http://www.autoweek.com/cat_content.mv?port_code=autoweek&cat_code=carnews&loc_code=index&content_code=02945750)

http://www.autoweek.com/weekart/2001/1126/liberty_twowheels.jpghttp://www.autoweek.com/images_content/2001_11/liberty_crashed.jpg

"DaimlerChrysler questions the validity of such at-the-limits testing of an SUV, particularly one like Liberty that is designed to perform off-road. The fore-aft inputs from applying brakes at the start of the run, and throttle while cornering, Stephens suggested, contributed to the Liberty having pretty much all of its weight on the left front wheel just before it rolled.

Though the test Jeep was a 2wd model, it shares the long-travel suspension (control arms in front, live axle in back, coil springs and gas shocks all around)and high ground clearance (eight inches at the rear axle) of the 4x4. The design allows Liberty to tackle serious off-road challenges such as the Rubicon Trail."


Built to tackle the Rubicon huh... Yeah behind a freaking tow strap!

Looks like a good test scheme to me. An average driver may never push his SUV through a slalom course like that, but a situation could arise in traffic where you have to stab your brakes and turn at the same time.

HA HA HA HA!

What a bunch of MORONS!

Imagine that, somthing with a taller CG than a Corvette and a wheelbase less than a tractor with trailer can be rolled by simply jerking the wheel. :rolleyes:

Oh well maybe they'll stop picking on the Trooper for a while.

"Hundreds of cars and trucks have undergone this
same test, with the same two drivers using the
same methods, since 1992. Only the Liberty has
rolled over, though two other SUVs—the BMW X5 in
July 2000 and the Land Rover Discovery in August 1999—lifted two wheels off the pavement"

Personally I thought the Kia J was a POS from the beginning. It ain't no Jeep...

"DaimlerChrysler questions the validity of such at-the-limits testing of an SUV, particularly one like Liberty that is designed to perform off-road'

But it was two wheel drive?? Shouldn't the 2 wheel drive one be made to perform on the road since it sure as hell ain't going off it?? :flipoff2:

It says it can handle the 'con, I have no idea why you fawkers in Cali spend all that time and money on mods, when you could have bought a KJ:flipoff2:

those things are ugly as fawk! I think Jeep is stupid for making it but I bet that thing dont roll over as easy as the Exploders!! LOL:flipoff2: :flipoff2: :rainbow:

live axle in the rear? thats news to me, I could have sworn they were IFS and IRS

That one on the right is the best looking KJ i've seen yet...

Liberty = :rainbow:

I personally DO NOT put any trust in their testing .... Yhey will not be happy till we are all driving geo metros and honda civics... you all can believe what you want but the jeep wasnt designed to be driven like a vette and when you try to drive it like one shit is going to happen

There's nothing wrong with the way it looks, it's just different and new.

As far as rolling goes, they do feel less stable the the XJ's, but it's a totaly different vehicle w/ a totaly different suspension.
It can't be any worse than a CJ, YJ, or TJ, thats for sure.

Remember how GAY it was when Jeep went to square head lights,
it's the same deal, you just get used to it

Besides there not as hiddious as those new Avalanches, or god forbid you talk about the new Frontier.
Those thing look like ROBO COP exploded on them.
ericfilar@fatcity

Originally posted by hy_desert_4wheeler
I personally DO NOT put any trust in their testing .... Yhey will not be happy till we are all driving geo metros and honda civics... you all can believe what you want but the jeep wasnt designed to be driven like a vette and when you try to drive it like one shit is going to happen

I think what they are trying to prove is that in traffic you will most likely have to pull an emergency move. Not that they are putting a KJ up against a vette. If they were really doing that, they would have to drive that thing as fast as they put the vette thru that course. I am not sure of the numbers but I am sure it's WAY WAY WAY beyond what this thing rolled at.

But on the other hand I swear that I lifted the two passenger side tires on my wifes Ford Focus one time on the freeway. You can get anything to do that if try hard enough.

Originally posted by hy_desert_4wheeler
I personally DO NOT put any trust in their testing .... Yhey will not be happy till we are all driving geo metros and honda civics... you all can believe what you want but the jeep wasnt designed to be driven like a vette and when you try to drive it like one shit is going to happen

This happened in Autoweek testing not Consumer Reports which is the company that rigged the Samurai tests and got caught after the fact.

Autoweek has tested the TJ and the Grand Cherokee and Explorers and none of those flipped. Sometimes even our favorite manufacturers come out with POS vehicles, In my opinion the Kia J is a POS... and :rainbow: as well.

What I find really sad is all the damn mags have good things to say about the POS, yet the Explorers got poor reviews and no aftermarket support.

I've bitched about this on my website before. When I bought my Exploder new in '93 it had a full frame, manual transfercase, manual hubs, manual tranny, an 8.8" rear with limited slip and a Dana 35 front axle. Back then that was considered the stripped model. Today Ford comes out with an FX4 Ranger equipped the same as my Explorer was except for the crappy IFS front end and that is considered an "offroad" package. Of course the magazine editors all love the FX4 cuz it has a "real" offroad package. Well SH*T why didn't they get so damn excited when the Explorer came out with those very same options?

Geez Rick! Feel picked on? That ax has to be sharp by now.... :flipoff2:

Paul

Those things look like a xj that a person put a cj grill infront of it and then slamed it into a wall repeatedly untill the grill sat flushwith the fenders. Then they truned it around and bashed the rear end into the wall untill the wheel base was shortened. Then they simply marketed it as a new vehical.

the lib is ifs and 8.25 rear. it's CG is way above that of the cherokee...hell the roof of a stock lib sits at the height of an XJ with 3 inch ad 31's.

Personally I feel the kj is a poor attempt to capitalize on a market created by the cherokee....therfore it is merely a copy of the copies and when that happens the overall quality tends to be downgraded.

a list of teh KJ's biggest flaws:
1) front control arms....they make a great snowplow if you're too lazy to shovel.

2) driveline vibs. take a look at the rear driveshaft and you'll see their answer. a huge harmonic balancer that solves teh vibe problems but with the centripital force is eating away at teh t-case gears quickly...that takes a small problem now and creates a huge problem later on.

3) the oilpan. so far of those who actually offroad their KJ, roughly 60% haev punctured, dented, or simply disfigured their oilpan or trans. I can post pics if I need to.


with the decisions that DC has amde up till this point in concern of the KJ I am not surprised that something like this occured. I am a Jeep faantic but I wouldn't put anyone whom I am close to in one of those damned things.

yeah,they do have too much plastic but the avalanche is not the vehicle rolled huh?

i liked the part where they said it was designed for offroad use, looks to me like its been so pussified, that its priamry design is for on road

Originally posted by bigblaze
yeah,they do have too much plastic but the avalanche is not the vehicle rolled huh?


That still dosn't make it less goofy looking than the kj:rolleyes:

it is way more goofy lookin than the kj

This is what happens when a company goes for the most watered-down comprimise they can come up with--a vehicle doesn't work on the road OR off of it...