The Insurance Institute for Highway Safety just released the side crash results for small cars. However, they excluded the Impreza, Civic, and MINI because they “will have new design features that are intended to improve side impact protection.”
iihs.org/newsreleases/2005/pr030605.htm
iihs.org/vehicleratings/ce/html/summaries/smalloverallc.htm“MINI COOPER design changes underway; to be tested in late 2005”
So I assume MINI is making some mid-year safety improvements for 2005… or perhaps for 2006. But am I right in thinking that the next, “all-new” MINI is scheduled for 2007? Or could it be sooner… hmm.
Thanks Michael for the info. It would be my guess that they didn’t test the MINI due to the new advanced airbags that have just been introduced this past January. It would also be my guess that the MINI would fair much better than the competition due to being equipped with not only the typical side airbag (located in the seat) but also the standard upper air bag that spans the length of the interior. Add to that an incredibly stiff structure and the active safety inherent in all MINIs, and you have one of the safest small cars available.
<p>Cool stuff……check out the MINI’s results for the front impact test at <a href="http://www.iihs.org/vehicle_ratings/ce/html/0222.htm#" rel="nofollow ugc">http://www.iihs.org/vehicle_ratings/ce/html/0222.htm#</a>.</p>
<p>Very impressive pic’s.</p>
<p>My first MINI was wrecked by being rear ended then pushed into on coming traffic and t-boned by another car. I can say that the interior of the car held up great. Sitting inside of the car after the wreck you could not really tell that it had been hit. I was very impressed.</p>
<p>Were the side curtain airbags just introduced? I ask this because I’ve seen the crash test information before and they mention that the dummy’s head came out the window some and it seemed to me that if the curtain airbags were there that wouldn’t have happened.</p>
<p>They’ve been there since the introduction of the car in 2001. It’s the same system that is currently offered in the BMW 3 series.</p>
<p>Don’t forget MINI’s pretensioning seatbelts!</p>
<p>I have a request–last year I saw a video online of the MINI in a side-impact test, shot from the dash. It was a great slow-mo of the belts pretensioning and the side airbag going off. I’ve never again been able to find it. I’ve looked on all the testing organizations’ sites and can’t find it. Has anyone else seen this and know where it can be found?</p>
<p>Okay, so the side curtains have been in the car since the beginning. Which leaves me to think that they don’t fire in the event of anything but a side impact. That seems like potentially bad planning.</p>
<p>Here’s my general understanding of the whats and whys of airbag deployment: </p>
<p>The car’s built-in sensors dictate what airbags to fire depending on the collision. The coding that the sensor relies on is created by the manufacturer by experts in the field of vehicle crashes. FYI – BMW is generally seen as very advanced in this area.</p>
<p>If all airbags would fire due to a simple offset front collision (for example) then you’d not only have four extra and unwanted small explosions going off around your head and abdomen, but an incredible amount of expense to replace all of them after the accident. </p>
<p>Further if this were the case the average collision costs for a MINI would be astronomical and would surely raise insurance premiums significantly.</p>
<p>However, why a side curtain didn’t deploy in a very specific instance I don’t have the knowledge to answer.</p>
<p>You also don’t want the side bags going off when they’re not needed because they won’t be there if there’s a second impact. In your example, Gabe, having the side bags go off in an offset front collision would be not only unproductive, but counterproductive if the car then bounced sideways into a tree or another vehicle and the bags had already inflated, then deflated.</p>
<p>Besides, airbags frequently cause minor injuries to occupants. If they’ll do no good in some specific instance, why injure the occupants? Remember, “First, do no harm.”</p>
<p>MINI made changes to the airbag system ( I believe front passenger side) and now it senses the actual person’s weight, hence the warning of not putting seat covers on vehicles built after January 2005.</p>
<p>otherwise, the MINI airbag systems has always being “Smart” technology, dual stage deployment.</p>
<p>Now my question is, has MINI introduced further structural reinforcements on recent build cars?</p>
<p>the curtain airbags are optional (an extra of around 300$ at least in Europe) and therefor the MINI has always been crashtested without them, because the institutes or other organisations, such as autoclubs, always crash the cars with their minimal factory onboard safety features.</p>
<p>Looks like they need to work on their English:</p>
<p>“14 OF 16 SMALL CARS ARE RATED POOR IN TEST THAT
SIMULATES CRASH WITH SUV; NONE OF THE 16 IS GOOD”</p>
<p>I could of told you before the tests that none of those cars is good!</p>
<p>Hahaha…yeesh…</p>
<p>Chris.. they are standard here in the states, so all of the crash tests have been with them.</p>