BMW E36 Blog

I’ve found an impact safety test for the BMW E36 cars. The test was conducted on a BMW E36 316i sedan which was moving at a speed of 64 km/h (40 mph) when the impact happens. I have to admit that the E36 didn’t perform well as expected. Take a look at this photo:

The problem in the frontal impact test was in the chest injuries which were life-threatening. The steering wheel was pushed backwards by 8.8 inches which may cause very serious damage to the driver’s chest. In that test, the knee also has suffered some injuries as well. So, the main problems with the fontal test in E36 cars were in the chest and the right knee for the right-hand drivers. The driver’s neck was protected very well in that test.

In that impact test, the passenger was protected well. So, this is something good on the contrary of the above chest and knee injuries.

The side impact test for the E36 was ok as well, so this only leaves us with two main problems that I could see which are the chest serious (life threatening) injuries and the knee injuries. If you’re asking about the airbag and how it was supposed to protect the drivers chest, I think the problem was in the steering wheel moving towards the driver’s chest by 8.8 inches which is a very long distance in such situations. 

Anyway, if you’re like me, I hate talking about accidents, but I thought I needed to write this information here to remind you all to drive safe and to make sure that your Airbag(s) are in their best shape all the time (YES, all the time).

If you’re looking to read the full impact safety test report, please find it here.

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