Excellent head on collision protection. It's impressive how the crumble zone absorbed all the energy leaving the passenger cell fully intact.
It's kind of sad, because MB builds a reputation off of being safe, and yet none of the cars tested there seemed to have performed exceptionally well. If anything Audi/BMW always seemed to get a better rating, and even looked better, judging from some of the pictures.
MB's safety philosophy is far more holistic than laboratory crash testing, which has seen manufacturers build cars for the sake of maximised their scores in these controlled environments. Renault has consistently delivered class leading crash test data, but I'm sure you'd rather be in a Mercedes E-class than a Renault Laguna. MB's safety systems are second to none and real world data has proven this to be the case. But that's off topic and it looks like the BMW X3 performs very well indeed.
M-B's have always fared poorly in Standardized Tests, but shown to have the highest real world protection stats (W210 and W211 E-Classes, for example), proving that standardized Tests don't always mimic the real world (the IIHS has even said this). If you look at the body-shell of the W212 E-Class after its side crash tests, it looks like nothing ever hit it, literally like a tank. Best showing of any cars that I've seen, even cars like the 5-Series, with its high Test results, look slightly caved in after a hard side collision.... Not the W212 or W204 for that matter. M-B's have just relatively recently started performing well in standardized tests, and leading in things like roof strength, safety cell non-intrusion, etc.
E 5 3 (naturally, the F30 will fare better) C And a bonus: W211 E-Class. This is to show how not-so-great it fared in the standardized side-test, but the W211 showed in every one of the IIHS's fatality ratings charts to be the Safest Sedan in terms of keeping occupants alive. Roof Strength:
I did not consider the fact they had the lowest fatality rates, i've only ever considered these tests as a medium of judging how safe the car was :eusa_doh: I do hear the term, "if they were driving any other car, they'd be dead" associated with Mercedes a lot, so I guess you're all right.
