BMW’s revolutionary i3 electric city car has failed to achieve a top five-star rating in Europe’s Euro NCAP safety tests.
Although designed from the ground up on an all-new platform, the i3 could only muster a four-star rating in the Euro NCAP crash tests. The testing body gave the i3 high marks for it performance in frontal and side barrier crash tests, but the plug-in scored poorly enough in the side pole impact test to warrant a one-star deduction from it overall score.
“In the more severe side pole impact, dummy readings of rib compression indicated that protection of the chest was weak,” the agency said.
The i3 also failed to pass rear impact crash tests with flying colors.
“The front seats and head restraints provided marginal protection against whiplash in the event of a rear-end collision,” Euro NCAP said in its assessment of the i3.
Adding to BMW’s black eye, the Mitsubishi Outlander PHEV, Infiniti Q50, Maserati Ghibli and Mazda 3 all managed to score five-stars in Euro NCAP’s latest round of testing.
Euro NCAP has different testing procedures than the NHTSA, so it’s possible that the i3 still could receive a five-star safety rating on these shores.
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