Suzuki Jimny getting significant safety upgrade – report

The Japanese-built Suzuki Jimny three-door is getting a safety upgrade to match its Indian-built Jimny XL five-door sibling.

Japanese outlet Creative Trend reports the updated Jimny, which is set to launch in Japan this August, will gain the following equipment:

• “Dual camera brake support”
• Reverse brake support
• Adaptive cruise control
• Backward false start prevention function

Of these, only the first will reportedly be fitted to both manual and automatic variants, with the others being exclusive to auto vehicles.

No other changes are expected, according to Creative Trend, apart from what claims will be “significant price increase”.

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Suzuki Australia confirmed in February 2025 that the three-door Jimny, among other vehicles in its lineup, didn’t meet newly introduced Australian Design Rules (ADR) outlining specific technical requirements for autonomous emergency braking (AEB) systems.

At the time, it said investigations were underway into making the popular off-roader compliant and that its “position on this product” had “yet to be confirmed”.

Sales of the Jimny, along with other Suzuki models that fell afoul of the new ADR, have continued as the automaker has secured sufficient stock complied before March 1, 2025, when ADR 98/00 came into effect.

The Jimny XL is unaffected by this new ADR. It features a stereo camera instead of a forward-facing monocular camera and laser radar like its three-door sibling, which allows Suzuki to offer both adaptive cruise control and night-time pedestrian detection.

Suzuki Australia confirmed earlier this month that the three-door Jimny would be in greater supply during the first quarter of 2026.

We’ve contacted the company to confirm exactly when the updated Jimny will arrive here.

From January 1, 2025, the Jimny is unrated by independent safety authority ANCAP. Its three-star rating from 2018 expired on December 31, 2024.

The Jimny is by far Suzuki’s best-selling vehicle locally.

To the end of June, it has delivered 4365 examples so far this year. The Swift light hatch was a distant second with 1953 deliveries.

Not only does the Jimny outsell every other Suzuki, it’s more popular than almost every other so-called light SUV. The only exceptions are the Mazda CX-3 (8221) and Toyota Yaris Cross (5887).

MORE: Explore the Suzuki Jimny showroom