BMW 2-Series Prototype Wipes Out On The Autobahn During Testing

Just stumbled upon this article of a BMW 2-Series prototype crash on a German Autobahn yesterday evening. According to the article the driver lost control of his car at high speed, clipping 50m of the beam barrier on the right hand side of the road and came to a rest after another 150m in the left hand lane. Furthermore, 4 other cars on the other side were hit by debris. Luckily the driver sustained only minor injuries and no one else was hurt.
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dlin - 6/10/2013 3:04:09 PM

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With the electric steering I can see this happen. You have no idea of what angle the tire is at. Every MFR should use hydraulic steering.

Eyecarehawaii - 6/10/2013 8:05:12 PM

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All it doesn't say is how fast the car was going at the time the driver lost control. I suppose someone could make a "guestimate" based on the distance stated but I suspect it is unusual for a factory car tester to lose control on a public road at normal speeds. It's summer there and the roads look dry. From what I understood when I lived in Germany, if you got in an accident and you were going over 130 kph then you're liable to be at fault regardless of what the posted speed limits were. (They take personal responsibility seriously there.)

Here's a Google Translation of the original (German) article:
"Apparently it was in the accident vehicle to a new and powerful vehicle from BMW. At high speed, the young test driver lost control of the horsepower of his car. The car tossed around, shaved down about 50 meters guardrail and came some 150 meters further on the left lane to a halt.

By flying debris four cars were damaged on the opposite carriageway in the direction of Chemnitz. In addition, a slice of the bridge came to fracture, in which the accident occurred.

The A72 had to be completely closed in both directions at times. Otherwise, the traffic was led past the accident. In addition to several ambulances and the Fire Brigade Reinsdorf was in use.

The young man who tested the Erlking was slightly injured. Other people did not get the first information to be harmed. The exact cause of the crash is the same as the amount of damage is still unknown. Certainly, however, the Erlkönig is a total loss."

Here's a translation of the first comment to that article"
"I passed at the accident site. It was a ziemiches debris field and it's just a coincidence that there were no serious injuries or death. It is irresponsible of BMW on a Sunday afternoon to conduct such tests in heavy traffic and travel plus a young and obviously inexperienced (the result shows it) use drivers. Hopefully we will also learn what it had consequences for the driver. R. Schubert"