MINI big on safety

The new MINI has earned five stars for safety in EuroNCAP testing.

The R56 MINI Cooper achieved top marks in both the head-on and the side-on/pillar crash tests, with EuroNCAP judging the risk of injury to occupants of the new model MINI as "very small in all cases".

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 test, which are both rated together as one category.

In the offset frontal crash test the vehicle hits a deformable barrier at a speed of 64km/h with 40 per cent of its frontal width. According to ENCAP, 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.

MINI says the new Cooper has "co-ordinated and harmonised" 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, to create one complete system. The objective in providing this configuration is to maintain the full shape and dimensions of the passenger cell as a survival area in a severe collision.

The new MINI Cooper comes standard with six airbags including frontal and side airbags for front passengers and curtain airbags, three-point inertia-reel seat belts on all four seats, and ISOFIX child seat fastening systems at the rear. Child safety in the new MINI Cooper was deemed above-average, and granted three stars.

For more on the new MINI see here

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