SIDE IMPACT CRASH TEST OF THE BMW X5

Whitby...The BMW X5, the world's first light truck equipped with a head
protection system, demonstrated the importance of such systems in a recent
side-impact crash test conducted by the Insurance Institute for Highway
Safety. The test involved ramming an X5 sideways at 18 mph into a stationary
pole.
While the impact speed of this test might seem low, according to Brian O'Neill,
President of the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety, "impacts into rigid
objects such as poles or trees at 18 mph are, in fact, very severe." After the
test O'Neill observed, "these tests demonstrate that people can survive serious
side impact crashes in the real world because head airbags prevent their heads
from striking rigid objects." He went on to note that, "side airbags with head
protection represent a very important safety development that will save lives
and prevent major head trauma in a range of serious side impact crashes."
Nearly 10,000 deaths occur each year in side impact crashes, according to the
Fatality Analysis Reporting System of the U.S. Department of Transportation,
and more than half of these deaths involve head injuries. Thirty eight percent
of single-vehicle side impact crash deaths occur when vehicles strike trees or
poles on the dead occupants? side. In two-vehicle side impact crashes, 38
percent of car occupant deaths occur when a pickup or SUV strikes the car.
"At BMW, we are very dedicated to the safety and well-being of everyone who
rides in our vehicles," said Tom Purves, Chairman of BMW US Holding Corp.,
"which is why BMW was the first manufacturer to offer a head protection system
in our automobiles and first again in a light truck. We are pleased that in
side impact tests conducted twice by the Institute, BMW's HPS has proven itself
to be so effective."
The benefit of BMW's HPS was first demonstrated by the IIHS in 1998 in a side
impact test of an HPS-equipped BMW 5 Series. After that test the International
Brain Injury Association awarded BMW its "Safe Car of the Millennium" in
recognition of the BMW Head Protection System.
This is the second recent crash of the X5 performed by the IIHS. In a recent
40 mph frontal offset crash test, a BMW X5 not only achieved the best results
of any SUV ever tested by the Institute, but the best results of any vehicle
they had tested to date.
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