Up until now, verification of vehicle safety has been obtained by means of crash tests in which structural integrity and restraint systems were tested in a non-braked situation. However, thanks to modern electronics such as those also featured in the new BMW 5 Series and BMW 7 Series, protective systems that warn the driver in advance of an accident and prepare the driver and the vehicle for impact in the event of an unavoidable collision, are becoming more and more widely accepted.
Future testing procedures will have to make allowances for the effect of preventive protection systems. In a recent world premiere, the BMW 530d successfully passed a crash test involving brake intervention at the facility of the Deutscher Kraftfahrzeug-Überwachungs-Verein (DEKRA) in Neumünster near Hamburg. Continue Reading →
