2011 BMW 5 Series Earns 5 Star NHTSA Rating

The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration has introduced its new, more stringent New Car Assessment Program (NCAP) and has conducted the first test that follow the new rules. The new BMW 5 Series was one of the only two vehicle to receive an overall five-star rating.

The novelties brought by the new NCAP rating system include: more stringent side-impact tests, use of crash-test dummies of varying size (now also simulating a small adult female as well as a medium-size adult male), collection of more data, introduction of a single overall rating score and the highlighting of high-tech crash avoidance systems like electronic stability control, lane departure warning and forward collision warning.

“The performance of the new 5 Series in these tough new tests reflects BMW’s long-held belief in a holistic approach to vehicle safety that places equal emphasis on active and passive safety,” said Jim O’Donnell, President of BMW of North America. “That’s why we were the first to introduce the Head Protection System in 1997 and why we made Dynamic Stability Control, our electronic stability control system, standard on every BMW sold in the US beginning with the 2000 model year.”

The 2011 BMW 5 Series comes with BMW Assist, which includes an Automatic Collision Notification system. This not only contacts the emergency call center automatically if a crash occurs, but also alerts emergency responders to the probability of severe injury.

The vehicle is available with Lane Departure Warning, Blind Spot Detection, and Active Cruise Control with a Stop & Go feature. It can also be ordered with Night Vision & Pedestrian Detection, a BMW first.