What happens when a BMW wrecks at 140 mph?

A few months ago, a guy posted on a BMW message board that he crashed his E46 M3 after taking it up to 140 mph, slamming on the brakes and losing control.

The car apparently rolled several times and came to a rest upside down, but he and his passenger simple unbuckled themselves and walked away, unharmed.

Now, a few months later, the car has showed up on eBay. The passenger compartment held up remarkably well. I thought people here might find the photos interesting.

http://cgi.ebay.com/ebaymotors/BMW-M-Series-04-M3-DESTROYED-NO-RESERVE_W0QQcmdZViewItemQQcategoryZ6131QQitemZ4609725094QQrdZ1

The guy, of course, is an idiot - never mind going 140 mph on a public road (_not_ a highway - he hit the brakes because there was a red light ahead), he also fled the scene of the accident (with his passenger), and apparently didn't have any insurance.

 

.
Image Unavailable, Please Login

 

Wow, that car DID hold up really well, it looks like it was in a 40mph accident, not 140 end-over-end.

btw....how did the guy have a lien on the car with no insurance?

 

As a Bimmerphile myself, one thing I truly hate about that M3 is the fact that the airbags did not go off. Other than that, I'm glad that it held up well. Its one of the few good car companies left that car offer superior safety in a car that size.

 

According to the auction description, the side airbags did.

And if the car never hit anything head-on with sufficient force, there was no reason for the front airbags to go off.

If the driver and passenger both sustained injuries that the airbags could've prevented, then this would be a valid complaint. But considering that both of them just walked away, all it says to me is that BMW designs their cars to deploy the airbags only when they're actually needed.

 

Wow, you would never guess what that car went through to look at the interior....

 

My wife had asked about safety (especially child safety) when I was looking into trading my car in for a 325/330 E46. We were shown pictures of a sedan that had been hit at 40-50mph by an ambulance, directly on the driver's side. The driver had some minor shoulder injuries and his 4 year old was completely unhurt (physically at least). Overall, the car looked as though it had been in a minor collision.

- Chris

 

The ultimate driving machine

 

You would think the seats alone would fetch $1500.

 

if I had seen this early I may have got the Seats they would make rad car lover Living room chairs

 

BMW uses a decelerometer to measure negative G's in a frontal impact. If the impact does not produce sufficient negative G force the airbags will not go off. Before they started using the decelerometer they used gold contacts. One was placed near each front strut tower and another near the middle of the grille. If two or more contacts made contact during a frontal collision the airbags deployed. If only one made contact they did not. The side impact airbags will deploy along with the head bags during side impacts.

From the looks of the pictures, the major damage was sustained by the left front fender and rear of the car. Not enough to deploy............Not a fault of the car......

 

that's horrible. but i love your avatar, im sure most people dont know what that means, very cool.

 

.
Image Unavailable, Please Login

 

I've seen the pictures of 5 series cars that have been pancaked, rolled over, smashed up like thise car on eBay and worse. All the drivers and passengers survived without injury... well this is the claim by the sales people.

 

Except for the BROWN stain on the driver's seat...LOL

 

Yeah, we need less people like him.

 

http://www.bimmerboard.com/forums/posts/158726

"Neither of the men had a scratch on them. "

 

LOL!


Forza,


Cavallini

 

That speaks for itself!

 

"D'oh!"