The 2022 BMW X5 was recently tested by the IIHS (Insurance Institute for Highway Safety) and got a Top Safety Pick award. In order to qualify for either of the Institute’s two awards (Top Safety Pick and Top Safety Pick+), vehicles must earn good ratings in six IIHS crash worthiness evaluations, including the driver-side small overlap front, passenger-side small overlap front, moderate overlap front, original side, roof strength and head restraint tests.
The cars must also be available with a front crash prevention system that earns advanced or superior ratings in both the vehicle-to-vehicle and vehicle-to-pedestrian evaluations. For the BMW X5, the difference between being rated Top Safety Pick and Top Safety Pick+ came down to the headlights. According to the IIHS, for the lower-tier award, at least one good or acceptable headlight system must be available. For the “plus,” good or acceptable headlights must be standard across all trims.
As it turns out, IIHS considers the standard LED headlamps that come fitted on the 2022 BMW X5 are not exactly Top Safety Pick+ material and, consequently, the car was penalized for it. Mind you, the BMW X5 can be had with three different choices when it comes to headlights. The standard LED option, the Adaptive LEDs fitted on the Executive model and the optional BMW Laser Light which earned a good rating overall.
Even though it didn’t get the best possible rating, the BMW X5 is still incredibly safe even if we’re talking about the base model. The standard and optional vehicle-to-vehicle front crash prevention systems both earned superior ratings, and the standard vehicle-to-pedestrian system followed suit. Just tick the optional LED headlamps when you’re configuring one, or the Laser Light version, and you’re basically driving a Top Safety Pick+ model. Pricing for the sDrive40i BMW X5 starts at $59,400 MSRP.
