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BMW X5 Achieves Best Performance In Crash Test

14 November 2000

BMW X5 Achieves Best Performance of Any SUV In Insurance Institute for Highway Safety Offset Crash Test
    WOODCLIFF LAKE, N.J. - The BMW X5 performed better than any SUV ever tested 
by the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety in its 40 mph offset crash test.  
Based on the results, the X5 has been rated a "Best Pick" by the Institute -- 
the third BMW to receive this distinction.  Not only is the X5 the best SUV 
ever tested it is, in fact, the best vehicle yet tested.

    In the test, the X5 was crashed into a deformable barrier with only the
left side of the vehicle striking the barrier.  This type of crash introduces
significant twisting forces to the already severe impact.  "The performance of
the BMW X5 in our high-speed offset test was outstanding," noted Brian O'Neill, 
president of the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety, "the occupant 
compartment, or safety cage, sustained very little damage.  Measured intrusion 
into the compartment was less than in any other vehicle the Institute has tested.  
With exemplary performance in earlier tests of the 5 and 3 Series, and now the 
X5, BMW has set the standard for all other manufacturers to aspire to."

    "As the first manufacturer to offer a head protection system in a
light-truck, as we were with passenger cars, we're very pleased by the
performance of the X5 in the IIHS test," said Tom Purves, Chairman of BMW (US)
Holding Corp., "HPS is, however, just one element of BMW's Fully Integrated
Road Safety Technology philosophy."

    Putting safety 'F.I.R.S.T.', the X5 Sports Activity Vehicle is designed to
the same high standard of crashworthiness as BMW passenger cars.  In addition
to HPS, all X5s benefit from two-stage, differentiated deployment SMART front
airbags and front side-impact airbags.  These are all made more effective by
the extraordinarily rigid unitized chassis of the X5, backed up by carefully
designed deformation zones which absorb and deflect impact energy.

    Equally important is the ability to avoid an impact altogether.  Its
combination of responsiveness and agility, coupled with state-of-the-art
electronic safeguards such as Hill Descent Control and Dynamic Stability
Control (BMW's electronic stability enhancement system), make the X5 a very
stable and predictable vehicle.

    BMW is widely recognized as a safety leader.  As the first manufacturer to
offer a head protection system, BMW was given the "Safe Car of the Millennium"
award by the International Brain Injury Association.

    More details on the test may be found at the Insurance Institute for
Highway Safety website at http://www.highwaysafety.org.