ANCAP has awarded a four-star safety rating to Australian market BMW i4 electric vehicles sold in Australia, on the basis of European testing by Euro NCAP.
According to ANCAP, BMW advised that the autonomous emergency braking (AEB) and lane support systems fitted to locally specified vehicles are of a higher standard than the systems tested in Europe, but the company did not put the vehicle forward to ANCAP for local verification testing.
ADULT OCCUPANT PROTECTION
The passenger compartment remained stable in the frontal offset (MPDB) test. Adequate protection was seen for the chest of the driver and the lower legs of the front passenger, while protection for all other critical body regions for the driver and front passenger was good.
The front structure presented a moderate risk to occupants of an oncoming vehicle in the MPDB test, and a 1.14-point penalty was applied.
In the full width frontal test, protection was adequate for the chest of the driver and rear passenger, with good protection of all other critical body areas.
In the side impact and oblique pole tests, protection offered to all critical body regions was good and the i4 scored maximum points in these tests.
A centre airbag, or other countermeasure to prevent contact between the heads of front seat occupants in side impacts, is not available on the i4. Prevention of excursion (movement towards the other side of the vehicle) in the far side impact tests was assessed as good for the vehicle-to-vehicle impact scenario, and adequate in the vehicle-to-pole scenario.
CHILD OCCUPANT PROTECTION
In the frontal offset and side impact tests, protection of the 10-year and 6-year dummies was good and maximum points were scored in these tests.
The i4 is fitted with lower ISOFix anchorages on the rear outboard seats and top tether anchorages for all rear seating positions. Installation of typical child restraints available in Australia showed most child restraints could be accommodated in most rear seating positions, though one of the selected booster seats could not be correctly installed in the rear outboard seating positions.
VULNERABLE ROAD USER PROTECTION
The i4 has an active bonnet, employing sensors that detect when a pedestrian is struck, and actuators that lift the bonnet to provide greater clearance from stiff components in the engine bay. The vehicle was tested with the bonnet in the raised position and good or adequate results were recorded over most of the bonnet area with weak and poor results recorded on the windscreen pillars.
The bumper provided good protection to pedestrians’ legs, but protection of the pelvis was predominantly poor. The AEB system offered adequate performance in pedestrian and cyclist test scenarios, but it does not react to vulnerable road users in reverse (AEB back-over) or turning scenarios.
SAFETY ASSIST
The i4’s AEB system is capable of functioning at highway speeds. The model is also fitted with a lane support system (LSS) with lane keep assist and emergency lane keeping (ELK) functionality.
Tests of the AEB (car-to-car) system showed good performance, with collisions avoided or mitigated in most scenarios. However, the AEB system fitted to the test vehicle does not react when turning across the path of an oncoming vehicle.
Tests of LSS functionality showed some good performance in lane keep assist scenarios, but the system does not intervene in many of the more critical emergency lane keeping test scenarios and overall ELK performance was classified as weak.
A speed assistance system identifying the local speed limit and allowing the driver to set the speed accordingly is standard.
A seatbelt reminder system is fitted to all seating positions, but occupancy detection is not available for rear seating positions. A driver drowsiness monitor system is also fitted as standard.