Wranglers did not have rear anchor points until 2003
Incorrect. The OP's 2001 Wrangler has them, as did every other 2001 Wrangler sold in America. They are in the cargo area, right by the opening for the tailgate.
We have their car seats in the back but I am wondering if there is anything I could do to make it more safe in case of a worst case scenario (also to make the wife feel better).
Do yall think a straight across rear bar would add anything?
Yes, you can add to your existing cage. There are bolt-on solutions, though I admit I am personally not a fan of those--I prefer welding in my cage additions. In my case, I added to my cage by having a local fabricator friend buy some DOM tubing, then bending it and welding it in. I then took the Jeep to a different friend and had him paint it to match the rest. You may be able to find someone near you who can do something similar.
Looking at a number of TJ crashes, the stock main hoop tends to hold up pretty well in roll overs. The rear tubes usually hold up as far as crushing downward is concerned, but they do often cave inward during side impact. This is why a rear crossbar can be of benefit. It would be even stronger if you triangulated this tube from each end to the center of the main hoop. Adding a triangulated rear cross bar will go a long ways toward keeping the kids safe in a low-to-moderate speed rollover. (Please note: if you triangulate, you will need to remove your sound bar; you could convert to the sound pods which were used in 2003+ TJs.)
I had a cross bar added at the rear corners, with two smaller bars at each end to act as gussets. It was carefully designed and positioned to fit under my OEM soft top. I did not triangulate it because I don't have a rear seat and thus never have rear passengers. You can see it here:
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The biggest danger in a TJ rollover is not to the rear passengers--it is to the folks riding up front. The front bars that connect the main hoop to the windshield are very weak, and the windshield frame itself is well known for collapsing during rollover. For that reason, I removed those front bars entirely. I had my fabricator friend make new tubes from the center hoop forward toward the windshield, then they curve down. They go through the dashboard and down to the floor. He added a front crossbar, then two central connectors from the main hoop to the front crossbar. (Yes, it would be even better if those central connector bars were triangulated rather than parallel... but since I'm not a competition wheeler, I felt this would provide me with the improvement I wanted.)
You can kinda see part of my front cage mods in the above photo. Sorry, I don't have any better pictures uploaded at this moment.
