BMW 5-Series Rear-End Collision

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Tue 23 Jul 2002 13:36
BMW 5-Series Rear-End Collision - Stuart M
Hi,

My father was recently hit from behind on a motorway, and I was wondering if anyone else had any experience with BMW's 5-series in this situation.

The car that hit him was doing about 70mph, whilst he was doing about 30mph. On impact, the drivers seat was thrown backwards, as the bolts that held the front of the seat to the rails broke. The result was that he was left facing the ceiling of the car, trying to brake to avoid hitting anyone in front of him.

The car was an R-registered 520i. He has pursued the issue with BMW UK, and after much correspondance they have returned a verdict, (without having examined the seat), that there is no problem with the seat doing this.

This is not a BMW-bashing attempt - I am just trying to find out if there are other people out there who have experienced such a reaction in a crash, with this particular car.

Thanks,

Stuart
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Mon 1 Aug 2016 14:03
BMW 5-Series Rear-End Collision - Cyd

www.waltersforensic.com/articles/accident_reconstr...m

robinsonfirm.com/publications/defective-seats/

www.smartmotorist.com/traffic-and-safety-guideline...l

www.facebook.com/SeatBackFailureAwareness/

www.theaa.com/motoring_advice/euroncap/crash_tests...l

notice that rear impact does not feature in Euro NCAP!

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Mon 1 Aug 2016 19:23
BMW 5-Series Rear-End Collision - skidpan

The car was an R-registered 520i.

To be fair to BMW the car is almost 20 years old and during those years repairs could have been carried out that used non BMW spec bolts.

But if the car has been owned from new and never repaired/modified ignore the above.

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Mon 1 Aug 2016 22:18
BMW 5-Series Rear-End Collision - madf

20 year old bolts - exposed to water and salt where they meet the bodywork under the car - break.

Hardly surprising.

I go under my 13 year old Jazz and coat all metal showing any corrosion with a oil based preservative (Dinitrol).

If you drive an old car and do not take such measures, corrosion will weaken everything.

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Tue 2 Aug 2016 11:04
BMW 5-Series Rear-End Collision - Cyd

20 year old bolts - exposed to water and salt where they meet the bodywork under the car - break.

Sorry Madf but not so. As is common on many cars the screws holding the seat frames to the floor pass into a box section which is on the interior of the floor. So, no exposure to corrosion from road spray. See this picture

www.photobox.co.uk/album/4336217208

As you will see the BMW 5 1998 seat runner is held down by a hex bolt. Most likely the head of the bolt simply snapped off at the root of the screw (where any screw is at its weakest).

It is a documented problem of seat fixings failing in rear shunt accidents. Have a read through the links I provided. This method is still employed by most today and it is wholly inadequate for significant rear shunts.

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Fri 5 Aug 2016 15:23
BMW 5-Series Rear-End Collision - Craggyislander

OP post seems to have been written in 2002...

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Thu 4 Aug 2016 12:57
BMW 5-Series Rear-End Collision - twitcherman

Being hit from behind implies he was travelling more slowly than at least one other vehicle. This is outwith the design parameters for any BMW.

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Thu 4 Aug 2016 13:10
BMW 5-Series Rear-End Collision - gordonbennet

Being hit from behind implies he was travelling more slowly than at least one other vehicle. This is outwith the design parameters for any BMW.

Brilliant..:-))))

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