With the introduction of the MY97 Rover Mini in late 1996 came many safety upgrades including Side Intrusion Bars in the doors. When we first gained compliance for the Mini back in 1997 we were required to crash test the car to ensure they meet the requirements of the Australian Design Rule (ADR) 29.
They didn’t!!
This meant a rethink was required with a side intrusion bar that could be retro fitted into the door without requiring any major modifications.
As you can imagine room in the door is very tight and the bar had to satisfy the safety requirements as well as allowing the window and door lock to operate correctly.
In the end a custom bar was designed that could be retro fitted and meet the requirements of ARD29.
With the new bar fitted the official crash test for ADR29 was completed and this time it passed with flying colours.