BMW i4 receives lacklustre 4-stars in EuroNCAP safety tests

Despite serial production and delivery already well underway, the BMW i4 has just received a somewhat lacklustre 4-star rating from the European New Car Assessment Program (EuroNCAP), which was happy with the car’s structural performance but less than thrilled with some of its safety and assistance systems.

The result does not bode well for the EV’s yet-to-be-awarded ANCAP rating, which draws from the Euro NCAP.

According to the admittedly vague test results (PDF) published this week by EuroNCAP, the BMW i4 received a 4-star rating out of 5 stars, with an 87% rating for adult and child occupants, a 71% rating for vulnerable road users, and only 64% for the car’s safety assist systems.

EuroNCAP were tersely content with the structural safety of the i4 for both adult and child occupants which “remained stable in the frontal offset test” and “would be a moderately benign impact partner in a frontal collision.” Similarly, in testing the full width rigid-barrier impact, “protection of all critical body areas was good or adequate, for both the driver and rear seat passenger.”

The BMW i4 did not score as well in crash tests with vulnerable road users, scoring only 71%, falling short to at least some degree on every test with pedestrians and vulnerable road users (which includes cyclists).

However it was the BMW i4’s safety assist systems which received the lowest level of satisfaction from EuroNCAP, receiving only 64%, or 10.2 points out of a total 16.

Of particular concern was the i4’s emergency lane keeping which received a “marginal” result – even though its lane keep assist received a healthier “good”. Unfortunately, the test results give no indication of exactly what was wrong to yield such a “marginal” result.

Priced from $99,900 before on-roads in Australia, the long-range premium i4 electric sedan forms one part of a bookend, along with the upcoming iX, to a range of 13 electric vehicles planned by the German carmaker that it will launch by 2023.

Already available in Australia, you can check out Giles Parkinson’s review of the BMW i4 here.