New MINI wins safety award

New 5-door Mini

The new Mini in the premium small car segment has been awarded for its new driver assistance systems from independent safety testing institute Euro NCAP, writes Trish Whelan.

The Euro NCAP Advanced award 2014 was for its pedestrian warning system with city braking function which forms part of the Driving Assistant option for the new Mini 3-door and the new Mini 5-door and is rated by safety experts as 'a groundbreaking innovation in reducing the risk of accidents in urban traffic'.

It is combined with active cruise control, high beam assistant, road sign detection and collision warning with city braking function.

The pedestrian warning with city braking function is active within a speed range of 10 to 60km/h. It uses a camera installed on the windscreen near the rear view mirror, which analyses images and warns the driver in situations where there's a risk of collision with a pedestrian. The driver is first given a visual alert in the instrument panel followed by a sound warning. At the same time, the car starts to brake with medium deceleration force.