2004 BMW 5 series

large luxury car / 4-door sedan

Crashworthiness

Rating overview
Evaluation criteria	Rating
Moderate overlap front: original test
Head restraints & seats

Key

G
Good
A
Acceptable
M
Marginal
P
Poor

Superior
Advanced
Basic

Some ratings use a scale of Poor to Good. Others range from Basic to Superior.

Moderate overlap front: original test

Rating applies to 2004-10 models

Tested vehicle: 2004 BMW 545i 4-door

The BMW 5 series was redesigned for the 2004 model year.

Evaluation criteria	Rating
Overall evaluation
Structure and safety cage
Driver injury measures
Head/neck
Chest
Leg/foot, left
Leg/foot, right
Driver restraints and dummy kinematics

Action shot taken during the frontal offset crash test.

The dummy's position in relation to the steering wheel and instrument panel after the crash test indicates that the driver's survival space was maintained very well.

Smeared pink and red greasepaint indicates where the dummy's head hit the roof rail during rebound. Head acceleration from this hit was low.

Forces on the lower right leg were high enough to indicate the possibility of injury.

Technical measurements for this test

Evaluation criteria	Measurement
Test ID	CEF0409
Footwell intrusion
Footrest (cm)	3
Left (cm)	4
Center (cm)	4
Right (cm)	5
Brake pedal (cm)	5
Instrument panel rearward movement
Left (cm)	1
Right (cm)	2
Steering column movement
Upward (cm)	-4
Rearward (cm)	2
A-pillar rearward movement (cm)	1

Evaluation criteria	Measurement
Test ID	CEF0409
Head
HIC-15	258
Peak gs at hard contact	18
Neck
Tension (kN)	1.5
Extension bending moment (Nm)	10
Maximum Nij	0.33
Chest maximum compression (mm)	37
Legs
Femur force - left (kN)	1.1
Femur force - right (kN)	2.5
Knee displacement - left (mm)	0
Knee displacement - right (mm)	0
Maximum tibia index - left	0.45
Maximum tibia index - right	0.92
Tibia axial force - left (kN)	2.1
Tibia axial force - right (kN)	3.5
Foot acceleration (g)
Left	64
Right	56

About the original moderate overlap front test

Head restraints & seats

Seat type: Comfort seats AHR manufactured before Sept 2007

Overall evaluation
Dynamic rating
Seat/head restraint geometry

Technical measurements for this test

Seat type	Comfort seats AHR manufactured before Sept 2007
Geometry
Backset (mm)	60
Distance below top of head (mm)	16
Seat design parameters
Pass/fail	Pass
Max T1 acceleration (g)	9.9
Head contact time (ms)	64
Force rating	2
Neck forces
Max neck shear force (N)	95
Max neck tension (N)	761

Seat type: Base seats manufactured before Sept 2007

Overall evaluation
Dynamic rating
Seat/head restraint geometry

Technical measurements for this test

Seat type	Base seats manufactured before Sept 2007
Geometry
Backset (mm)	85
Distance below top of head (mm)	14
Seat design parameters
Pass/fail	Fail
Max T1 acceleration (g)	14.0
Head contact time (ms)	103
Force rating	3
Neck forces
Max neck shear force (N)	230
Max neck tension (N)	750

Seat type: Sport seats

Overall evaluation
Dynamic rating
Seat/head restraint geometry

Technical measurements for this test

Seat type	Sport seats
Geometry
Backset (mm)	108
Distance below top of head (mm)	18
Seat design parameters
Pass/fail	Fail
Max T1 acceleration (g)	0.0
Head contact time (ms)
Force rating	0
Neck forces
Max neck shear force (N)
Max neck tension (N)

About the head restraint & seat test
Currently, IIHS tests apply only to front seats.