2007 MINI Achieves Top US Safety Rating

the verdict…’good’

Man, I wish I had more time right now to write more. However, these results are all encouraging that MINI continues to recognize and emphasize that safety is a major concern for people that are buying small cars. Especially given the range in size of cars on the US roads today, it increasingly important that the MINI is designed to provide a strong occupant compartment and absorb as much energy as possible with the limited crush space it has.

The IIHS and the EuroNCAP tests are the most rigorous frontal impact tests we have today, so it is an important point that the new MINI achived the highest marks in both those tests (for at least adult occupants – none of the EuroNCAP mini-cars are earning high scores for child protection just yet).

That being said, there’s nothing you can infer from this that you’ll be as well protected in a MINI vs. a large truck than if you were in some other larger vehicle. That unfortunately is dominated by things such as vehicle mass. You cannot compare the frontal crash tests across ranges of vehicle sizes because of the way they are tested. Energy is the product of two factors, mass and velocity. For all tests, the velocity is the same, but for each different size vehicle the weight is different… and therefore the crash energy for frontal impact tests into a barrier is different.

But that being said, there are two more important points.

1) single vehicle accidents (into roadside barriers) are a LARGE percentage of all traffic fatalities – and these tests (IIHS and EuroNCAP) give a strong indication how the car will do in these types of crashes. 2) in side impact tests (which have not been reported yet for the 2007 MINI), the original ’02-’06 “new” MINI did well, scoring an “acceptable” rating (one below the highest rating). These tests can be compared against cars of all size ranges because they are all hit by the same simulated vehicle (an SUV at that). In these tests, it is impressive to consider that vehicles that are nearly 1/2 the mass of the impacting vehicle can perform nearly as well as a vehicle, such as a truck or SUV that is the same size as the impacting vehicle.

Until proven otherwise, I am betting that the ’07 MINI will equal or improve it’s already good performance in the side-impacts.

Generally though, as far as compatability goes, it often comes down to how safe you feel in a small car. Personally, I feel more comfortable having the control over the car that the MINI offers. If someone is intent on ramming me, then I’ll take my chances (with solid crash test scores), but I’m putting far more faith in feeling comfortable driving something that stops, turns and accelerates like I have control over what is happening.

Well, at least I kept that short…

Nigel, IIHS ratings are online for all to see. I think you are confusing apples and oranges somehow.

http://www.iihs.org/ratings/ratingsbyseries.aspx?id=303

http://www.iihs.org/ratings/head_restraints/headrestraints.aspx?mini

http://www.iihs.org/ratings/head_restraints/head_restraint_info.html

Its because the R56 test the dummies head hit the steering wheel through the airbag – thats why the head and neck rating is lower than the R53. They also said it hit the side rail but the impact was not serious. Everything else might have been improved but the rating was not good because of that head strike. So as I said at the top of the comments you would think there would be some follow up on that by mini – like paying for a re-test…

This differing result may be due to the effect of the advanced airbag system. This system is supposed to change the rate of airbag deployment based on various factors.

The ’02 to ’06 (R50/R53) had an advanced airbag system as well. Certainly the deployment strategy has changed between the ’02-’06 and the ’07, but I am not sure exactly how hard the head impact on the steering wheel was, or how it compares to a typical head-strike into an airbag or other occupant compartment. I will look into that.

In the end, the result is the highest rating for IIHS, so I think the head-strike to the steering wheel was unusual in that it occured, but if it was a disconcerting probability of injury it should have lowered the score more than just “acceptable” for head/neck.