I don't think this is a repost...but, if so...send me a bill...

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Crash Testing: MINI Cooper vs Ford F150



Wow. Both of these vehicles hit the exact same off-set barrier at 40mph. Now there's no question what would win in a head-on collesion between the two but then again the majority of accidents involve only a single car. All you have to do is look at the dummy's legs and you can get an idea of what would happen if you hit a wall in either car. The MINI had almost no intrusion which "indicates that the driver's survival space was maintained very well" - the F150 on the other hand had "Major collapse of the occupant compartment that left little survival space for the driver."

I'm interested in how a company could create a modern vehicle that could perform so badly on this test. Furthermore Ford had lots of space to work with to make this a safe vehicle. For BMW/MINI to do the job in 1/4 the space is what engineering is all about.

Keep in mind also this is the best selling vehicle in the US. One would think that Ford, knowing this, would have put more effort into the engineering of this truck. It gets worse; this platform is also the basis of both the Ford Expedition and to some extent the Ford Excursion. Both are marketed to be tough, safe, go anywhere SUVs and are sold as family transportation.


Why haven't we seen Dateline covering this. Why are they more interested in 5mph bumper tests - shouldn't this be front page news somewhere? There are millions F150s out there.

You can see the full crash results of the MINI Cooper here and the Ford F150 here .

Update: For those that continue to have trouble comprehending the inherent danger of vehicles like the F150 here's a fascinating article in the New Yorker with some interesting information.

The statistics were compiled by Tom Wenzel, a scientist at Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory, in California, and Marc Ross, a physicist at the University of Michigan. The information comes form a recent article in teh New Yorker:

"The numbers are expressed in fatalities per million cars, both for drivers of particular models and for the drivers of the cars they hit."




For more tidbits, click here: http://www.bridger.us/2002/12/16/Cra...operVsFordF150

 

crazy... not what you would expect.

a big to the Mini people for creating a safe, yet small, car...

 

i always had doubts and scared to ever hop into those mini's and actually go for a fun drive.. but now i could feel safer in a mini than i would in a freakin ford truck?? that's some crazy stuff right there.. great read!

 

Vehicles with body on frame, mostly ladder truck frames, are inherently more unsafe than modern day unibody vehicles.

Two main reasons why body on frame is not as safe:

1) The frame underneath is generally very heavy duty. As a result, there are no major crush zone and the energy of impact is transmitted more to the frame/occupants.

2) Since the body is not a major part of a structure, it is usually lighter than in a uni-body. Thus less structural integrity. This means that during a crash, the body will deform more than a uni-body.

The only reason SUVs and truck "win" is because they usually have about 1000 pounds more mass. This allows the other car to act like a "crush zone" rather than the truck.

 

taht is the old F150, not the new generation truck.

 

No real suprise at all. The real test/reason people are scared is because of a head on of a mini vs an F 150. Mass = ownage of mini.

 

Exactly.
The “old” version of the F150 was horrible. It got all kind of bad press.
The new one is designed completely different and got the highest rating from the insurance institute.

 

I wonder what would happen to the dummies in the back seats if a Mini gets rear-ended by a F150...

 

Whew, i was worried there for a sec, i have an 04 F-150....

 

 

The F150 has much more mass so of course there will be more drastic damage. I'd actually like to see an offset crash test of a Mini vs a Ford F-150 hitting eachother.. That would show a much different picture

 

Yea, Ford corrected the problem with the new one and scored "good" all across the list which the MINI didn't.


The cabin looks like it didn't sustain any damage, even the roof is straight as a board:


Compared to the old one:

 

you know what would be even more interesting, seeing how our cars held up to the crash tests (cl, tl, etc...)

 

I think I remember seeing a crash test of the 2nd Gen TL when it was new back in 2000, but I’ve never seen a CL test.
The results would probably not be up to today’s standard because the design is 5-6 years old now.
Still better then a lot of the cars on the road though.
And of course we’re dead if a big SUV decides to take us out.

 

following kinda along the lines of second gen tl and cl crash testing, i gotta a question. Do coupes fair better than sedans in crash testing? The reason I ask is that I have a 1994 accord coupe that is rated as 4 out of 5 stars for both driver and passenger by the NHTSA, but the four door model is given 4 stars for the driver and only 3 for the passenger. Coincidence?

 

Video:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pfQuNsgT46s

Pretty sad this ever made to production...

 

Very interesting. I always knew that it was a good car, but that suprised me a bit.

 

Ford improved the saftey of the new one.

 

You also have to consider 5000lb hit the wall at 40mph vs 2500lb hit the wall at 40mph. If the F150 hit the mini head on at 40mph, the result will be opposite in picture.

 

agreed. lol

 

The mid 90's Dodge Ram pictures are far far worse...

 

yep, the current F150 gets 5 stars. Far better than the old.

http://www.safercar.gov/NCAP/Cars/4256.html

 

even still, i see millions of that years F150 on the road. Scary.

 

I thought this was going to be a mini crashing into a F150... That wouldn't have been as pretty.

 

i love it when 2 year old crash test threads are dug up for debate.

 

LOL