Five NCAP stars for MINI Cooper

[Plex]

The new MINI has just arrived in South Africa, and with it comes the news that the Cooper's passive safety system has received the highest possible score in the Euro NCAP Crash Test.

The tyke received five stars as a result of strong results in both the head-on and the side-on/pillar crash, with the risk of injury to occupants being deemed very small.

The testers gave the new MINI Cooper 13 out of 16 points for the car�s deformation behaviour in a head-on collision, and 16 out of 18 points in the side-on and pillar collision, which are both rated together as one category.

Child safety also showed an above-average result.

The five-star overall result is attributable to the MINI�s all-round safety concept: extending from the structure of the body with its defined deformation zones and the stiff passenger cell to the restraint systems masterminded by electronic control units.

Like all other variants of the new MINI generation, the Cooper comes as standard with six airbags, three-point inertia-reel seat belts on all four seats, and Isofix child-seat fastening systems at the rear. Both the driver and front passenger are protected by frontal airbags as well as airbags at the side. The side airbags are integrated in the side supports on the front seats for protection from thorax injury.

The extra-large curtain head airbags inflating out of the roof lining offer the front and rear passengers protection from head injury. The seat belts on the front seats, finally, are equipped additionally with belt latch tensioners and belt force limiters.

These active restraint elements (belt latch tensioners, airbags) are masterminded by a central electronic safety system. The direction of an impact and its severity are determined by crash sensors housed in the B-pillars and at a central point in the underfloor of the car. The data provided in this way serves in each case to activate the appropriate restraint and safety systems with an optimum effect tailored to specific crash conditions.

The new MINI is also equipped with belt telltales on all seats indicating whether the belts are in use. Another optical signal comes on as soon as the front passenger�s airbag has been deactivated, for example when fitting a child seat at the front next to the driver.

The NCAP (New Car Assessment Programme) testing procedure is acknowledged as one of the most demanding tests required of new cars the world over. The Euro NCAP Test is indeed a benchmark for crash safety acknowledged throughout Europe by governments, car clubs and consumer protection organisations. Comparable NCAP Crash Tests are carried out in the USA and Japan.

The most important highlights of the Euro NCAP Crash Test are the frontal and side-on collision under exactly-defined conditions. In the so-called offset frontal crash the vehicle hits a deformable barrier at a speed of 64km/h with 40 percent of its frontal width. Under such conditions the collision forces act on only part of the car�s frontal area, while impact energy must be spread out and absorbed as completely as possible throughout the entire width of the car.

The new MINI ensures this effect by diverting and absorbing the forces acting on the car along load paths defined in advance. To make this possible, the load-bearing structures on the floorpan, side walls, bulkhead, frontal section, rear section and the roof, as well as the dimensions and positions of the car�s crash boxes, have been coordinated and harmonised as one complete system. The most important objective: maintain the full shape and dimensions of the passenger cell as a survival area also in a severe collision.

This also applies to the requirements in a side-on collision simulated in the Euro NCAP Crash Test by impacting a deformable barrier at a speed of 50km/h. As an additional test scenario, this specific test includes a side impact by the car against a steel post at a speed of 29km/h, the post measuring 25cm in diameter at the level of the occupant�s head centrepoint.

In order to reduce the risk of collision, active safety was given significance from the start in developing the new MINI, over and above passive safety. The brake system complete with anti-lock brakes, a Brake Assistant, Cornering Brake Control (CBC), and Electronic Brake Force Distribution (EBFD) may be supplemented as an option by on-demand traction control (ASC+T) � standard on MINI Cooper S � and Dynamic Stability Control (DSC) complete with uphill start-off assistance.

All variants of the new MINI are equipped with a Tyre Defect Indicator permanently measuring tyre pressure by comparing the speed of the car�s wheels. The driver is then warned automatically by an optical signal once air pressure in a specific tyre deviates from the normal pressure by more than 30 percent, thus being made aware in good time of any sudden, excessive loss of pressure.

Both variants of the new MINI are also available as standard with Runflat tyres.

Motoring.iafrica