This story is not necessarily about BMW, but about modern cars in general. Security has come a long way in recent decades, with progress in the Crumple Zones. More complex passive security features have saved millions of lives with improved structural integrity. You can add Adrian Lund to that list because he survived to tell the story of how he survived a confrontation.
If his name doesn’t ring the bell, he’s a former president of the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety and the Highway Loss Data Institute. For the better part of his career, his job was to keep vehicles safe in the event of an accident. There is more to car safety than airbags and seatbelts because there are many factors that can differentiate between life and death.
It would be wrong to say that he survived because of pure luck because he has done a lot of research in 2020 BMW 540i engineering. Last August, while he was on his way to Savannah, Georgia, a car on Interstate 95 went the wrong way and hit the front. Lund was traveling at about 60-65 miles per hour while the other vehicle was traveling at about 50 miles per hour.
If the accident had happened 10 years ago, the former IIHS president believes he could not have survived it. His BMW was a 2020 IIHS Top Safety Peak after getting good ratings in six crashwardness tests. Lund doesn’t remember the whole incident, but he explained that there was more to the accident than just that head-on collision.
After the next two injuries, he remembered sitting upside down in his car. Emergency rescuers rushed to the scene, cut the seatbelt and B-pillar, and pulled Lund out of the wrecked 5 Series. You can tell by looking at the horrific level of damage to the front that the head-on collision was brutal.
Nevertheless, the former IIHS chief still had room to move his legs after the 540i came to a complete stop. Although he could not escape unscathed, he is here, telling how it happened. He suffered a leg injury, a scratch arm, and a minor injury. In addition, his neck still hurts him from time to time. However, it could have been worse if he had stayed in an old car. Since the head-on collision was followed by a rollover, the strength of the roof played an important role.
For another driver, he died after being pulled out of his car. Coincidentally, that too is a BMW, especially a 2016 228i. However, he was not wearing a seatbelt at the time of the impact.
Source: Insurance Institute for Highway Safety