[Jason]

BIMMERPOST NEWS

A Look Into the BMW Safety Research Process

22
COMMENTS

Tweet

Safety is not just a priority, it’s one of our core philosophies.

Our team of engineers partner with trauma experts from the William Lehman Injury Research Center at the University of Miami Miller School of Medicine to analyze data from accidents to determine the cause of injury in vehicle crashes.

Learn more about our inspection and research as we strive towards the goal of giving all of our drivers the safest ride possible.

[E39hijinks]

Is that right BMW...

2016 5-Series footwell...



2016 Hyundai Elantra footwell... (same test)



OK Ok... the BMW design is behind. They didn't have time to catch up (Hyundai did it anyway but OK i'll play)

the last generation E-Class... (same test)



I'm sure the next 5 will be excellent in this test. but still... BMW could've been more ahead of the times here. Honda and Mercedes (for the most part) were.

[lpshikhar]

Originally Posted by E39hijinks

Is that right BMW...

2016 5-Series footwell...



2016 Hyundai Elantra footwell... (same test)



OK Ok... the BMW design is behind. They didn't have time to catch up (Hyundai did it anyway but OK i'll play)

the last generation E-Class... (same test)



I'm sure the next 5 will be excellent in this test. but still... BMW could've been more ahead of the times here. Honda and Mercedes (for the most part) were.

It can be seen the driving position of the dummy in the 5 series is very different from the other two.
The knees look more bent with the 5er.
Just an observation.

[ur31337]

Originally Posted by lpshikhar

It can be seen the driving position of the dummy in the 5 series is very different from the other two.
The knees look more bent with the 5er.
Just an observation.

To me, it looks like the whole dash came forward to meet the driver in the 5 series photo. Look at the rocker panel compared to the other two. To be fair, the platform is quite aged. Still disconcerting though.

[lpshikhar]

Originally Posted by ur31337

To me, it looks like the whole dash came forward to meet the driver in the 5 series photo. Look at the rocker panel compared to the other two. To be fair, the platform is quite aged. Still disconcerting though.

I mean, you really can't tell anything about the crash by just looking at the pictures. Crashes can be of various types and a zillion factors determine the condition of the car and the person. Factors like, road angle, force, speed, weight of the car and million others.
It COULD not be that bad as it looks, not trying to defend any company and their standards here. But crash tests can vary in nature. What if the Hyundai and MB were crashed at 30mph and the 5er at 40mph ? Just an example. So, we really cannot predict the outcome of a crash test just by analyzing the pictures.

[440xiGCMsport]

Originally Posted by lpshikhar

I mean, you really can't tell anything about the crash by just looking at the pictures. Crashes can be of various types and a zillion factors determine the condition of the car and the person. Factors like, road angle, force, speed, weight of the car and million others.
It COULD not be that bad as it looks, not trying to defend any company and their standards here. But crash tests can vary in nature. What if the Hyundai and MB were crashed at 30mph and the 5er at 40mph ? Just an example. So, we really cannot predict the outcome of a crash test just by analyzing the pictures.

what are you talking about? this is a controlled test environment. all the cars are crashed at the same speed at the same angle by the nhtsa and the iihs in North America.
The BMW 5 series has always had a poor or below crash test rating in a few generations now from what I recall. BMW has to step up their efforts in this area that is for sure.

[raysspl]

Those are some fancy yellow shoes they got going on there. Wonder what brand or make are they?

[Jashan]

Originally Posted by 440xiGCMsport

what are you talking about? this is a controlled test environment. all the cars are crashed at the same speed at the same angle by the nhtsa and the iihs in North America.
The BMW 5 series has always had a poor or below crash test rating in a few generations now from what I recall. BMW has to step up their efforts in this area that is for sure.

Bruh post the data for those pics can't just take your word for it that they were all the same tests

[SMC23]

Bmws have not done well lately compared to their rivals in crash test worthiness.

Check out the existing 3 series as well which mirrors the 5 series' marginal results.

[VTECaddict]

Originally Posted by Jashan

Bruh post the data for those pics can't just take your word for it that they were all the same tests

iihs.org. They also have videos on YouTube if you search for it.

[Quicksilv3r]

Yea to be fair, the small frontal overlap is a brutal test. I believe the F10 is a 5-star competitor in virtually every other test.

Love this sort of stuff, always wanted to do vehicle crash safety for a living.

[tlow98]

Originally Posted by lpshikhar

It can be seen the driving position of the dummy in the 5 series is very different from the other two.
The knees look more bent with the 5er.
Just an observation.

I think you're missing the part about the entire firewall coming inward to the driver. This MOVED the passenger to their shown position.

Didn't happen in the other two cars...

[Zach335i]

Originally Posted by raysspl

Those are some fancy yellow shoes they got going on there. Wonder what brand or make are they?

I think they're yeezys lol

[VTECaddict]

Originally Posted by Quicksilv3r

Yea to be fair, the small frontal overlap is a brutal test. I believe the F10 is a 5-star competitor in virtually every other test.

Love this sort of stuff, always wanted to do vehicle crash safety for a living.

Almost every new car was passing the moderate overlap test with flying colors a few years ago so the IIHS had to come up with a harder test. Can't have every car on the road be a "Top Safety Pick" or it looks like they're not doing their jobs lol.

I'm not sure how common the small overlap situation is in the real world, but at least it forces automakers to engineer even safer cars.

[clbmw]

Originally Posted by Quicksilv3r

Yea to be fair, the small frontal overlap is a brutal test. I believe the F10 is a 5-star competitor in virtually every other test.

Love this sort of stuff, always wanted to do vehicle crash safety for a living.

Haha you'd better be confident about the vehicle you're crashing if you want to continue

[AP]

i believe the volvos had good results.
I do hope that BMW are simply engineering to pass the tests and not going beyond that.
did they simply never test that scenario or did and considered it good enough?
there are manu othe scenarios, rear end hit,offset tear end hit. higher speeds. what do BMW actually test, they certianly never publish that.
Volvo and Saab are two makes that you certianly got the impression thry went beyond what the governments demanded, or iihs or euroncap.
interesting to see how the new g30 performs...

[zx10guy]

Originally Posted by VTECaddict

Almost every new car was passing the moderate overlap test with flying colors a few years ago so the IIHS had to come up with a harder test. Can't have every car on the road be a "Top Safety Pick" or it looks like they're not doing their jobs lol.

I'm not sure how common the small overlap situation is in the real world, but at least it forces automakers to engineer even safer cars.

As you said, I'm not sure how common a small overlap collision is, but I can say I was in one. Stupid idiot driver was paying too much attention to her damn cell phone instead of driving. Crossed the double yellow into my path. Couldn't get out of the way and had a head on collision at I would estimate at about 20 MPH and was trying to decelerate to avoid her. Impact was bad enough where the bumper cover of her car got launched in the air and landed about 9 ft or so from the impact point. I was driving a Ford Focus. Had pretty significant front left corner damage; control arm, strut, and wheel were replaced along with front fender, bumper cover, head light, etc. I didn't experience any passenger cab intrusion. But the weird thing was none of the airbags went off.

I'd post pics of the wreck but I don't have them anymore due to someone stealing the cell phone I had them in.

[E90Fleet]

You cant compare a model thats hardly got days worth of production left with competitors new cars that were designed for the new test.

Here rather is the in production F48 X1 that passed the test with a good rating

[F32Fleet]

FWD will generally outperform a RWD in small overlap test.

[440xiGCMsport]

Originally Posted by Jashan

Bruh post the data for those pics can't just take your word for it that they were all the same tests

this is not something people do in their backyards or a hobby of some rich guy buying expensive cars and crashing it for kicks with a really really expensive dummy inside that can cost upwards of $500000. logic would tell you that these tests are done by an organization under strict controls to make sure all factors are the same when testing and rating various cars. don't have to take my word for it take simple logic.
like some one said Google iihs and nhtsa crash tests.

[Quicksilv3r]

Originally Posted by 440xiGCMsport

this is not something people do in their backyards or a hobby of some rich guy buying expensive cars and crashing it for kicks with a really really expensive dummy inside that can cost upwards of $500000. logic would tell you that these tests are done by an organization under strict controls to make sure all factors are the same when testing and rating various cars. don't have to take my word for it take simple logic.
like some one said Google iihs and nhtsa crash tests.

http://m.iihs.org/mobile/ratings/mob...oor-sedan/2013

Great resource

[Saebb]

Originally Posted by F32Fleet

FWD will generally outperform a RWD in small overlap test.

How do you verify that?

Small overlap has nothing to do with which axle propels the car.
Fact is, that the F10 was developed in an era where the small overlap was just not common or even developed. It isn't even mandatory today. Just a customer test, no Homologation.
Considering the usual lifespan of a car and the development time before the construction of the F10 is nearly 10 years old. Basically any car out of that time fails this test.
Remember E36 or other cars from that era? When the E36 was released they just invented the EuroNCAP and the car failed in this test big time. Because the test was just not relevant.

I could go on about this hours and hours but be assured that the cars safety works best in the defined cases. Any major deviation from the test cases in daily use is just not considered and covered.