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BMW X5 Tops SUV Crash Tests
Woodcliff Lake, N.J., Nov. 18 — Sport utility vehicles, America's most popular way to get around, have been walloped lately. The severest bashings took place in recent tests by the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety (IIHS), where 14 SUVs were slammed into 40-mph offset-barrier collision tests - IIHS's most difficult crash test. And the winner is (drum roll): The BMW X5. In fact, not only is it the best SUV, it's the best vehicle that IIHS has ever tested.
Institute president Brian O'Neill said that the X5's performance was outstanding. "During the offset test its occupant compartment, or safety cage, sustained very little damage (photo). Measured intrusion in the compartment was less than in any other vehicle we have tested." O'Neill went on to say that crash-test dummy data indicate a very low likelihood of injury in a real-world crash of this type.
In the offset test, the X5 was crashed into a deformable barrier such that only the left side of the vehicle struck the barrier. IIHS crash data show that this type of impact introduces very severe twisting forces into an already bad crash - the type of crash that buckles dashboards and jams legs into bone-breaking spaces. (If you've ever seen the results of this type of crash firsthand, you probably wondered what happened to the passengers from the legs down.) Amazingly, in the case of the X5, the footwell remained completely intact.
Other areas of the BMW's "safety cage" also held their ground. The safety cage uses carefully designed deformation zones to absorb and deflect crash forces. It is part of a program that BMW calls FIRST (Fully Integrated Road Safety Technology), and which the German manufacturer uses in all of its passenger cars, as well as the X5, which is classified as a light truck. The system also includes front and side airbags that are controlled by sensors that gauge crash severity and adjust deployment accordingly.
Obviously, avoiding a crash is an equally important design goal. The X5 is one of the nimblest and most responsive SUVs on the market. This is, in large part, due to BMW's electronic stability enhancement system, which includes the company's Hill Descent and Dynamic Stability Control systems.
Other vehicles in this round of IIHS testing didn't fare nearly as well as the X5, especially the Isuzu Trooper. In fact, it got a "marginal" performance rating after a major fuel leak was detected immediately following the first test, which prompted the Japanese manufacturer to recall all 2000 models. A later IIHS test of a 2001 model produced another leak and recall. (See separate story.)
If you'd like to see more crash details on the X5, or to find out how your SUV fared, just visit the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety website at: http://www.highwaysafety.org. — John Jeppesen (Photos: IIHS)
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