The Car You Choose Matters: Why I’m Thankful I Was Driving a BMW

Yesterday, traveling westbound on I-24 through Chattanooga, Tennessee, I learned something about vehicle safety that no brochure, commercial, or crash-test rating could ever teach me quite as effectively.

I hit a large piece of metal lying in the interstate.

It appeared to be part of an engine or another substantial mechanical component. Traffic surrounded me. Swerving was not a safe option. I knew impact was coming, so I began braking, maintained my lane, braced myself, and did everything I could to keep control of the vehicle.

The impact was violent.

The object struck the front driver's side of my 2016 BMW 428i xDrive Gran Coupe. The tire was destroyed. The wheel was severely damaged. The suspension and chassis sustained significant damage. Brake fluid was lost and braking capability was compromised. Within seconds, the vehicle began telling me that multiple systems were failing.

But I remained in control.

I was able to get the BMW out of active interstate traffic and into a safer location on the overpass.

Most importantly, no one was injured.

I have driven this BMW for years, and I have always appreciated the way it handles. After this accident, I appreciate it for an entirely different reason.

Safety Is More Than Airbags

When people talk about vehicle safety, we often think about airbags, seat belts and crash-test ratings.

Those things matter enormously. But there is another dimension of safety that deserves more attention: what a vehicle allows the driver to do during the seconds when something has already gone terribly wrong.

My BMW gave me an extraordinarily stable platform from which to respond.

The 428i xDrive Gran Coupe sits relatively low and feels planted on the road. My vehicle's wheel and tire configuration provides a broad, stable footprint, including wider rear tires. The combination of its suspension, steering, tires, all-wheel-drive system and electronic stability systems creates a vehicle that communicates with the driver rather than feeling disconnected from the pavement.

Under ordinary circumstances, that makes the BMW enjoyable to drive.

During an emergency, it becomes something much more important.

The xDrive all-wheel-drive system continually manages power distribution to help maintain traction. Dynamic Stability Control is designed to recognize instability and can reduce engine power or brake individual wheels to help stabilize the vehicle.

Those systems aren't particularly glamorous when you're commuting to work.

When you've just struck a massive piece of metal at highway speed, they're suddenly very interesting.

Acceleration and Braking Are Part of the Safety Equation

There is another aspect of safety that I don't think receives enough attention: confidence in what the vehicle will do when you ask it to do something immediately.

Sometimes avoiding danger means slowing down.

Sometimes it means getting out of the way.

During all the years I drove my BMW, I had tremendous confidence in both.

If I needed to accelerate decisively to merge into fast-moving traffic, clear a dangerous situation or maneuver away from a developing hazard, I knew the vehicle had the power and responsiveness to do it. There was very little uncertainty between pressing the accelerator and getting the response I expected.

That confidence matters.

Driving a much smaller, less powerful rental vehicle after the accident has made me acutely aware of the difference. I don't have the same confidence that rapid acceleration will be available if I suddenly need it.

The same principle applies in the opposite direction.

The BMW's braking system gave me tremendous confidence. Under normal driving, the brakes were strong, predictable and responsive. ABS and the vehicle's electronic systems provided additional layers of control when braking conditions became more demanding.

On I-24, I needed that braking capability before impact. I also needed the vehicle's stability once the impact occurred and the braking system itself became compromised.

There is something profoundly important about knowing that when you ask a vehicle to go, stop or change direction, it will respond decisively.

That isn't about performance for performance's sake.

In the wrong circumstances, it is about getting out of harm's way.

The Steering Matters

One of the things I have appreciated most about this car has always been its steering.

There is substance to it. The vehicle responds precisely, and the different driving modes can alter the character of the steering and vehicle dynamics. In a sportier setting, the steering feels more direct and weighted.

But there is another detail that seems almost insignificant until you spend thousands of hours behind the wheel: the steering wheel itself.

Its shape, thickness and ergonomics simply work.

It sits naturally in the hands. The controls are accessible without requiring unnecessary movement or distraction. Over long drives, that design contributes to comfort. During demanding driving, it contributes to something even more important: maintaining a secure, confident connection with the vehicle.

After the impact, I wasn't simply sitting inside a damaged vehicle waiting to discover where physics intended to send me. I could feel what the car was doing and continue making corrections as I moved toward safety.

That ability to maintain directional control may have been one of the most consequential characteristics of the vehicle that day.

Driver Comfort Isn't Just About Luxury

The accident has also changed the way I think about features we casually categorize as "comfort."

My BMW's seats could be adjusted extensively to support my body. The side bolsters could be positioned around me so that I felt securely planted in the driver's seat rather than sliding from side to side. Lumbar support allowed me to position myself properly for long periods behind the wheel.

Those details make a vehicle comfortable.

But they also help create a driving position in which the driver is stable, supported and able to operate the vehicle effectively.

Even the heated steering wheel became something I appreciated differently.

During bitterly cold Missouri winters, a heated steering wheel might sound like a luxury. But anyone who has climbed into a freezing vehicle knows what cold can do to your hands.

Keeping them warm and comfortable helps preserve dexterity and makes maintaining a comfortable grip on the wheel easier.

Again, the individual feature may seem small.

Collectively, these details create an environment designed around the person responsible for controlling several thousand pounds of moving machinery.

That's not insignificant.

A Car That Communicates With Its Driver

My BMW was also equipped with driver-assistance and information systems that I had come to take for granted.

Lane-departure warning could alert me through vibration in the steering wheel if I unintentionally began drifting from my lane.

Collision-warning technology provided another layer of situational awareness.

The Head-Up Display projected critical information into my field of vision, including speed, navigation instructions and other information, reducing the need to continually look down at the instrument panel.

Steering-wheel controls allowed me to manage common functions without unnecessarily taking my hands away from the wheel.

These can sound like conveniences.

They aren't merely conveniences.

Every feature that reduces unnecessary distraction, improves situational awareness, supports driver control or gives a driver another fraction of a second to recognize a developing problem contributes to the larger safety environment surrounding that driver.

And then there were the warnings after the impact.

Almost immediately, the BMW began reporting problems. Tire pressure. Chassis and stability warnings. Brake-related warnings. System after system began communicating what had been damaged or compromised.

The vehicle wasn't simply damaged.

It was telling me it was damaged.

That information mattered because I needed to make decisions quickly while still surrounded by interstate traffic.

Yesterday Changed the Way I Look at Cars

After the accident, I was placed in a small Mitsubishi rental car.

There is nothing inherently wrong with a small economy car, and vehicle size alone does not determine whether a vehicle is safe. Modern compact vehicles can achieve excellent safety ratings.

But the contrast in driving experience has been striking.

I feel the difference in the tires. I feel it in the acceleration. I feel it in the braking, steering, seating position, road feedback and overall sense of stability.

And after what happened on I-24, those differences no longer feel cosmetic to me.

They feel consequential.

I cannot scientifically claim what would have happened had I been driving another vehicle.

No responsible person can reconstruct an accident that never occurred.

What I can say is this:

I am extraordinarily thankful that when I encountered an unavoidable piece of heavy metal in interstate traffic, I was behind the wheel of a vehicle I knew intimately and trusted completely.

I knew that if I needed acceleration, it was there.

I knew that if I needed braking, it was there.

I knew what the steering would give me.

I knew how the vehicle would respond.

And when everything went wrong, it responded.

Choosing a Vehicle Is Choosing a Safety System

We tend to buy cars based on price, appearance, fuel economy, comfort, technology and sometimes status.

Perhaps we should spend more time asking a different question:

What happens when everything goes wrong?

How does the vehicle steer after a major impact?

How well does it maintain stability?

Does it have enough responsive power to move away from danger when acceleration, rather than braking, is the safer option?

How confidently can it decelerate when seconds matter?

Does the driver's seat keep the person behind the wheel properly positioned and supported?

Does the steering wheel feel natural and secure in the driver's hands?

How effectively does the vehicle communicate a developing mechanical problem?

How much information can the driver receive without looking away from the road?

How well do the tires, suspension, drivetrain, braking system and electronic stability systems work together when the driver suddenly needs every advantage available?

Those questions became very real for me on I-24.

My BMW is badly damaged. It may ultimately be declared a total loss.

If that happens, I'll be genuinely sad to see it go.

That car carried me for nearly 200,000 miles. But perhaps the most important miles it ever traveled were the final few after that impact, when a badly wounded vehicle still gave me enough control to get out of interstate traffic safely.

BMW engineers will never know me. The people who designed the chassis, steering, xDrive system, stability controls, braking system, seating, driver interface and countless other details of a 2016 4 Series Gran Coupe could never have known that years later, their work would be tested on an interstate in Chattanooga by a piece of metal that had no business being there.

But yesterday, I depended on that engineering.

And everyone walked away.

For that, I am profoundly grateful.