Posted on 07/30/2014 3:12:02 PM PDT by AngelesCrestHighway
The four-door Mini Cooper Countryman was the only one of 12 cars to earn a top rating of "good" in new frontal crash tests.
The Nissan Leaf, Nissan Juke, Fiat 500L and Mazda5 wagon all fared worst in the tests performed by the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety, an Arlington, Va.-based safety group that's funded by insurers.
The Chevrolet Volt, Ford C-Max, Mitsubishi Lancer, Scion FR-S and Subaru BRZ all got the second-highest rating of "acceptable." The Hyundai Veloster and Scion xB were a notch below that, with "marginal" ratings.
The small overlap front crash test, introduced in 2012, replicates what happens when 25 percent of a car's front end strikes a rigid object at 40 miles per hour. It's a difficult test because a small area of the car's front end must absorb and manage the energy from a severe, high-speed crash.
No “Duh?”. The Mini Cooper Countryman is a small-to-midsize SUV.
Not. Small. At. All.
The rest of them are shoe boxes/coffins...
We have found that the crush factor on 1/4”drive 3/16” sockets is significant when 2.5 tons dead weight is applied.
However, 1” drive 2-15/16” sockets do not suffer the same result!
DUH!
Funny our local 6ABC news only mentioned Chevy Volt earned the top rating.
Wonder why......
40 mph into a wall with these rollerskates reveal a not so happy outcome for anybody!
But they drive with pride....
https://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_detailpage&v=9iKGfo1wmOM
But I'd also bet a Mini Cooper could avoid a crash better than my Toyota Sienna.
I've been driving for 29 years. I've only been in one auto accident, about 27 years ago. I was in my '76 Chevy Monza and hit head-on by a '74 Thunderbird going the opposite direction who hydroplaned into me during a rainstorm. There was nothing left of the car that my passenger and I walked away from. The T-Bird occupants all walked away as well.
“No “Duh?”. The Mini Cooper Countryman is a small-to-midsize SUV.
Not. Small. At. All.”
BMW engineering now. Very successful in my area.
And safe, too. Great. I like the exteriors, but not the comical interiors.
It is hardly a “midsized” SUV, however. I say small.
Amazing that everyone walked away. How fast were you going?
Holy Crap!!! Those things are smashed like bugs! The drivers would have been critically injured or killed.
I’ve seen this photo before. It had a caption: I hit a deer. It just laughed and walked away.
I was slowing down to turn left and he was going about 45 the opposite direction. I remember it like it was yesterday.
My point is, as much as we place value in crash survivability, most of us will go through life being involved in few if any car accidents, most of these will be fender benders and even head-on collisions can be mitigated by wearing seat belts, as I was doing.
But it is better to avoid accidents altogether, something smaller cars have a decided advantage over larger ones.
3000 pounds or so. A chubby lil guy, LOL
Mass is mass. Even this test won’t tell you how you will survive. You hit a large mass with a small mass at speed..... the small mass will lose, every single time.
The wrecks I’ve been in, all in other people’s cars with them driving, have happened so fast that there really was no way to avoid them, probably even with a smaller car. But this is a very limited sample.
No sweat! Haul them down to the Missouri scrap recyclers! They can take a car with a crushed front end, weld it to a car with a crushed back end, paint it, run it down into Arkansas and get a nice clean title showing it was NEVER DAMAGED, and ONLY driven to church by an little old lady on Sunday!
Go to their website. In the Small Overlap Crash they have tested ZERO “Large Family” Cars, ZERO Pickups, ZERO “Large SUVs”, ONE Minivan.
They have tested only four “Large Luxury” cars.
Two of the “Midsize Near-Luxury” cars scored “poor”.
Of the nine “Mid-sized SUV’s”, Three scored “Poor”, Three scored “Marginal”, One - “Acceptable and Two - “Good”. 14 models were not tested.
This is a very difficult test to pass. Ever increasing mandated MPG ratings do not make the engineers & manufacturers tasks any easier.
Finally, remember that the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety is a pressure group. The IIHS is to automobiles as Greenpeace is to the environment. The IIHS needs scary test results to keep the money flowing in and to maintain their influence with governments.
Graphic small car crash results ~ Polar bears on ice floes
In the spirit of George Carlin, yes, it is a large Mini (but a rather small car). I’ve been driving mine since February.
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