IIHS: Kia Amanti Safer Than BMW 5-Series for Side Impacts
CNN Money reports that side impact tests performed by the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety (IIHS) rate the 2008 BMW 5-Series as "marginal." The result placed the Bimmer at the bottom of a six-member "luxury sedan" pack (providing you accept the Amanti as a member of that group). The IIHS test shows that you're be better off sitting in a Kia if your whip gets T-boned by an SUV at 31 mph. ["Good:" Kia Amanti, Acura RL, Volvo S80; "acceptable;" Cadillac STS, Mercedes E-Class; "marginal:" BMW 5-Series.] The test is not without controversy; to mimic a truck, the IIHS' side impact sled plows into the target vehicle ABOVE the car's side impact beam. In that case, side impact airbags are your best friend. In the 5-Series' case, air bags coddled the dummy's head, but chest and abdomen airbags "performed poorly." BMW's spokesman says the IIHS dummy was injured by the arm rest. "The issue is that depending on the location of seat, the location of dummy, the location of the sled, the results could change," Thomas Plucinsky told The Detroit News. "This was one test on one day on one car." And a bad day it was too.
More by Robert Farago
Comments
Join the conversation
Frank Williams: you got me! Fixed.
Edgett, Because then we'd see there are no safe cars.
The 4x4 lifted trucks are actually pretty scary in even a relatively mild rear-ender - the results are pretty much as you'd expect, where the truck body keeps moving and trys to decapitate the car. Even though it's not enforced, there are a number of VC violations with these trucks in any event.
I guess we should all drive subcompacts so the poor fools that buy the Chinese Dodge econobox (should they import it) won't get banged up when they pull out in front of you.