True to form, the new MINI is among the safest Superminis on the Market Today

Euro NCAP and MINI today revealed the second generation MINI has achieved a 5 Star Euro NCAP crash test rating for occupant protection. In addition, the MINI scored a reasonable 3 stars for child occupant protection, and 2 stars for pedestrian impact.

Very good results in head-on and side-on/pillar crash tests showed risk of injury to occupants to be minimal. The new MINI Cooper achieved 13 out of 16 points for deformation behaviour in a head-on collision, and 16 from 18 points in the side-on and pillar collision. In the offset frontal crash test, the structure of the passenger cell was maintained. 4,000 individual welding points in the body shell optimise the MINI Cooper’s structural safety.

The MINI Cooper is 60 mm longer than its predecessor to meet pedestrian impact regulations. The car also comes as standard with six airbags, three-point inertia-reel seat belts on all four seats and ISOFIX child seat fastening systems in the rear.

Active safety was identified as a priority in the development of the new MINI. Brake Assistant, Cornering Brake Control (CBC) and Electronic Brake Force Distribution (EBFD) in the new MINI Cooper may be supplemented as an option by on-demand traction control (ASC+T – standard on Cooper S models) and Dynamic Stability Control (DSC), complete with uphill start assistance.

The Euro NCAP PDF shows in more detail the crash test results, and makes the following observations

• Frontal Impact: Structures in dashboard presented a risk of injury to the knees and femurs of the driver and passenger.
• Child Protection: The passenger airbag can be disabled to allow a rearward-facing child restraint to be used in that seating position.
  However, information provided to the driver regarding the status of the airbag is not clear. The labels warning of the risks
  of placing a rearward facing child restraint in the front passenger seat are not sufficiently clear. In the side impact, the
  restraint of the 3 year old dummy rotated, placing the dummy’s head outside the protection offered by the side of the
  restraint. In the same test, the head of the 1½ year old dummy contacted the interior trim. The resulting peak acceleration
  recorded by the dummy indicated a risk of head injury. The presence of ISOFIX anchorages in the rear seats was not
  clearly marked.
• Pedestrian Protection: The bumper and the front edge of the bonnet scored no points for the protection they offered to pedestrians’ legs.
• Seatbelt Reminder: The MINI Cooper has a seatbelt reminder system for all seating positions

The overall test score achieved puts the MINI only just behind other larger, recently launched superminis such as the Peugeot 207, Renault Clio, Toyota Yaris and Fiat Punto, and offers a good improvement over the 2002 MINI Cooper results.

Sources: MINI Press, Euro NCAP (Direct Links to MINI PDF, Supermini segment results).