[firewired]

I was really surprised that the E90 rated so poor for neck protection. To me the headrests feel very supportive. What do you all think?

http://auto-it.blogspot.com/2005/11/...n-in-neck.html

http://www.thatcham.org/ncwr/index.j...el=0&display=e

Some cars were a given that they would score well, like Saab and Volvo, but the Honda Civic?:

http://www.thatcham.org/ncwr/pdfs/cr...ction_2006.pdf

[firewired]

I am an Emergency Doc, so I always try and keep up on the safety issues. A good site which does a meta-analysis of all the crash testing is informedforlife.org. They do a relative risk of dying in a particular vehicle overall, rather than looking at one parameter, such as frontal or rear crash testing, and use more than one crash testing source (i.e. NHTSA, IIHS):

http://www.informedforlife.org/

I was trying to find some corroborative data to the poor performance of the E90 in rear crashes in the Thatcham report, and was surprised that the informedforlife analysis also bears this out, that rear crashes was the only place that the E90 performed poorly.

Overall you want a vehicle as close, or lower than 70 as you can get, but look how the E90 performed on rear crash testing, that is the only place that it had a 4 times higher risk of death. I wonder if this has to do with poor neck protection? Every other BMW model performed better in protecting in a rear collision, including the Z4! (Just don't get hit from side or front in a Z4 though.)

http://www.informedforlife.org/CRSal...lOrder2005.pdf

[BeemMeUp]

Thanks for the info Doc., but I think they were addressing the 2005 model not the 2006 E90. One of the articles said insufficient data for the BMW E90. But still had some good info though. Thanks,,,,

[firewired]

I think that the thatcham report is referring to to the E90. If you select 2006 3 series it gives you the following:

http://www.thatcham.org/ncwr/index.j...1151&display=s

I thought it listed 2005 on, because the E90 being released mid-year. What do you think?

[BeemMeUp]

I still think they are refering to the 2005 model. 2005 andthe 2006 are completely different.

[firewired]

I'll email them and let you know if they respond. Have a Happy New Year!

[needashower]

I think the Doc is right. I went to this site and got different results for the 2005 and 2006 model year, 2006 scored poor for dynamic and overall measures. This is interesting stuff.

[shadye90]

Originally Posted by firewired

I was really surprised that the E90 rated so poor for neck protection. To me the headrests feel very supportive. What do you all think?

Yeah..the E90 has poor neck protection due to the fact that all the girls seem to break theirs whenever we drive by in our rides....

[AW330i]

^^^^^ LOL!

[roburado]

Originally Posted by firewired

I am an Emergency Doc, so I always try and keep up on the safety issues. A good site which does a meta-analysis of all the crash testing is informedforlife.org. They do a relative risk of dying in a particular vehicle overall, rather than looking at one parameter, such as frontal or rear crash testing, and use more than one crash testing source (i.e. NHTSA, IIHS):

http://www.informedforlife.org/

I was trying to find some corroborative data to the poor performance of the E90 in rear crashes in the Thatcham report, and was surprised that the informedforlife analysis also bears this out, that rear crashes was the only place that the E90 performed poorly.

Overall you want a vehicle as close, or lower than 70 as you can get, but look how the E90 performed on rear crash testing, that is the only place that it had a 4 times higher risk of death. I wonder if this has to do with poor neck protection? Every other BMW model performed better in protecting in a rear collision, including the Z4! (Just don't get hit from side or front in a Z4 though.)

http://www.informedforlife.org/CRSal...lOrder2005.pdf

[roburado]

Originally Posted by firewired

Overall you want a vehicle as close, or lower than 70 as you can get, but look how the E90 performed on rear crash testing, that is the only place that it had a 4 times higher risk of death. I wonder if this has to do with poor neck protection?http://www.informedforlife.org/CRSal...lOrder2005.pdf

Maybe, maybe not. The whiplash rating was "Acceptable" while the other BMWs were worse, it seems.

[JamieA]

When I ordered my E90 I was very disappointed that they only have old-tech head restraints, when the industry is moving to active head restraints piloted by Saab. A major omission in my book, and nearly a deal breaker since I have suffered from whiplash from a rear-ender before.

I bet this would have some bearing on rear-end collision performance, and neck injuries in general.

[xdrive]

Check this out..

http://www.hwysafety.org/ratings/hea.../head_bmw.html

The 3 series rated is up to 2005 only.. The 5 series rated is up to 2006 and it's overall rating is still a P. I'm guessing the 06 3 series will also receive a P. Only time will tell... It's pretty sad that a car this expensive got an overall rating of P....

[BMW0]

Yup it would be nice to have that added feature, we will just have to wait for the upgrade on our next 3 series.

[ksfrogman]

If you read the PDF file report at

http://www.thatcham.org/ncwr/pdfs/cr...ction_2006.pdf

you will see that it refers to the BMW 3-series standard seat, but describes it as "cloth, 4-way and manual?" I didn't think the 3-series came with cloth seats.

Brings into question, at least, whether there may be a discrepancy between the non-sport and sport seats during testing. i.e., I wonder what they actually tested.

[firewired]

I think Europe gets a lot more seat options, and have different standard features.

[JamieA]

They do. The base cars get cloth versions of the standard leather seat you have without power adjustment.

Here our base 320 gets cloth, and leather starts at the 320 Executive which is at a higher price point.

I still think the omission of active head restraints is not good seeming as it is a fairly mature technology and fairly common cars have them now, not just luxury cars.

Active Head Restraints are just a mechanical linkage that pushes the head rest forward to meet your head as you are thrown deeper into the seat through the impact force, the technology couldn't be easier to implement and significantly reduces injury.

[firewired]

I agree with you, a Hyundai Sonata should never score better than a BMW in anything but price.

[NaTuReB0Y]

is that the reason why insurance rates are going up for E90 owner?

[JamieA]

I think the E90 body is more difficult and expensive to repair too given the materials used in construction and the manufacturing tolerances required to fit all those complex panels together so well.

[red_wagen]

Great neck protection...



Great driving experience...



I'll choose #2, thank you

[JamieA]

Originally Posted by red_wagen

Great neck protection...

<<img deleted>>

Great driving experience...

<<img deleted>>

I'll choose #2, thank you

Well obviously, this isn't in question. However there is no reason BMW couldn't have delivered both!