The 2015 BMW X5 underwent crash testing by the New Car Assessment Program (NCAP) supervised by the National Highway Traffic and Safety Administration (NHTSA). It did very well, scoring top marks for frontal and side tests, as well as all sub-category tests.
That is great news for X5 owners, prospective buyers and passengers, but what we find fascinating are the crash tests themselves.
Here are three videos from the NCAP testing. Look for how they get the vehicle to slide sideways into a pole. Check the difference between how the windshield glass reacts versus the moonroof. (Hint: You may want to keep the moonroof open or the interior shield closed as a general rule unless you like glass down the back of your neck.)
The interior views with the dummies hitting the airbags are interesting, but also note the action of the seat harness pretensioners.
It may be hard to watch perfectly good BMWs being destroyed, but NCAP conducts destructive testing to keep the automakers honest and to give us some idea of how safe the vehicles are. The vehicles ruined by government crash testing are nothing compared to BMW’s destructive testing as they develop safer cars.
Fortunately for us, it looks like the BMW X5 is a good one for safety. We wish no one ever has to find out the hard way, but it’s good to know that if they do, their survival chances are better than average.—Scott Blazey
[Photo and videos courtesy of NHTSA/NCAP via CrashNet1.com.]
