Mini crash protection

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GvilleGuy

GvilleGuy

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That breaks my heart to see. Glad the driver was safe though.

ETA my guess is an F56
 
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GvilleGuy said:
This was not me! I just spotted this on the Mini reddit group. Can anyone tell which ICE body style this one was? There isn't much left to distinguish it. The OP said they walked away with a "busted" arm, and "See the black suv in the background? He lost control on snow and came into my lane in the dark on a two lane road". (I linked reddit thread below the photo)
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It looks like a pre-LCI F56 Cooper S.
 
Looks like an 2017-2018 F56 Cooper S. First and second gen have the gas cap on the driver side.

On second thought it looks older with the flat rear spoiler.
 
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It's definitely an F56, you can tell by the tail light and rear side window plus the missing gas cap.

I don't know how fast that guy's collision was (sounds like a head-on, yikes!), but my experience confirms MINIs are very safe cars. I was rear-ended at 55 mph in my first Clubman (R55) on a highway (I was stopped for traffic backup, driver behind didn't slow down), and we walked away with no injuries plus the car was almost drivable, even though we were pushed into the center wall and ricocheted into another car. And recently a deer hit my wife (uninjured) in our current R55 Clubman and all the car suffered was a broken windshield, broken headlight and some denting to the hood. It's all fixed now.
 
It's good to see a real world demonstration of someone being able to walk away from a very serious impact on an F56.
 
Wow! I have one word for that. Crumple. Zone. OK 2 words. Excellent job of preserving the driver compartment. Terrific safety photo. Seeing this makes me even more confident in my SE purchase.


Sent from my iPhone using Inside EVs
 
Lets not get like the Volvo nutswingers who say they would have been dead in any other car. Yes, the car survived that crash, whatever that crash involved. The crumple zone worked, and the airbags did their job. Would the result have been the same in a Cruze, Focus, Corolla or Civic? We don't know, and any speculation is a waste of bandwidth.
 
Tommm said:
Lets not get like the Volvo nutswingers who say they would have been dead in any other car. Yes, the car survived that crash, whatever that crash involved. The crumple zone worked, and the airbags did their job. Would the result have been the same in a Cruze, Focus, Corolla or Civic? We don't know, and any speculation is a waste of bandwidth.
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QFT.

But… it’s handy info to back-pocket to whip out to all the SUVers and pickuptruckers and other smallcarhaters when they say they “wouldn’t be caught dead” in a “clown car” like the MINI “because it’s unsafe.”

I used to keep a German news clipping about a smart fortwo that T-boned a large SUV (ML? X5?) which had run the red, the smart was almost drivable, while the SUV was bent in two and on its roof. That, and the link to the Fifth Gear 70-mph crash test into a concrete barrier.
 
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Actually I’m not that impressed..
The aim is to have no deformation of the passenger cell. In the photo you can see where the base of the a-pillar has moved back and the roof has bent as a result.
Given the age of this generation and how much cars have improved over the past few years I am not surprised and it certainly it could have been worse. But a concern of mine has been the age of the platform when it comes to safety, both in terms of lacking things like blind spot monitoring and so on, plus as shown here the structure to deal with the crash energy not being up to the latest standards.
 
AndysComputer said:
Actually I’m not that impressed..
The aim is to have no deformation of the passenger cell. In the photo you can see where the base of the a-pillar has moved back and the roof has bent as a result.
Given the age of this generation and how much cars have improved over the past few years I am not surprised and it certainly it could have been worse. But a concern of mine has been the age of the platform when it comes to safety, both in terms of lacking things like blind spot monitoring and so on, plus as shown here the structure to deal with the crash energy not being up to the latest standards.
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Blind spot monitoring is called turn your head.. the over reliance on such systems is making some real shitty drivers. Then again some don’t even use those systems and are still crap.
 
MrSnrub said:
Blind spot monitoring is called turn your head.. the over reliance on such systems is making some real shitty drivers. Then again some don’t even use those systems and are still crap.
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If people did the shoulder check they’re supposed to we would have fewer accidents and wouldn’t need them. But the same can be said of many accidents, 99% of which are avoidable. But we don’t live in that world, so if a led lighting up stops an accident that would otherwise have happened then I’m all for them. Better to have it and not need it; than not have it and need it…
 
Puppethead said:
I don't think it's about that, I think it's about "MINIs are safe cars" as others have said.
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I'd like to see how a MINI Cooper fares with IIHS' new side impact crash test, where vehicles with higher bumpers (such as trucks and SUVs) are simulated.

I always thought I was reliably safe in my little Subaru Impreza, but that car got a poor rating with the new IIHS side test:

https://www.iihs.org/ratings/vehicle/subaru/crosstrek-4-door-wagon/2023


It won't change my decision to purchase the SE (real soon now), but it'd still be nice to know how it performs in the new side crash test.
 
AndysComputer said:
If people did the shoulder check they’re supposed to we would have fewer accidents and wouldn’t need them. But the same can be said of many accidents, 99% of which are avoidable. But we don’t live in that world, so if a led lighting up stops an accident that would otherwise have happened then I’m all for them. Better to have it and not need it; than not have it and need it…
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I know far too many who ignore them. I actually find many annoying and distracting in most driving conditions.
 
Drivers are lazy either way. Cost is negligible. For the weight divas, it’s about 2-3lbs. Like all safety tech you can turn it off. Lastly, this is MINI so it would be a $750 optional package that won’t be there upon delivery any way. Not sure why everyone is so worked up :D

I see safety tech as additive, making the whole solution better. That’s why I have “euro” mirrors and added my own blind spot warning. I don’t always need those things, but I’d rather have more tools than fewer. Modern BSW is far more accurate and predictive of collision than even just a few years ago. The naming is also a bit of misnomer these days as it’s more of a side collision warning, akin to forward collision warning.
 
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