MINI Cooper and Aceman Earn Top Euro NCAP Safety Ratings

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The latest Euro NCAP results are in: both the new MINI Cooper 3-door (F66) and the MINI Aceman (J05) have earned five-star ratings. That headline alone is easy to gloss over, but it carries more weight than you might think. Five stars today isn’t the same as it was a decade ago — the standards are tougher, the testing more punishing, and the data more revealing. Which makes MINI’s clean sweep across the lineup, from the J01 Cooper Electric to the 2025 Countryman, worth a closer look.

Euro NCAP’s testing has only gotten tougher in recent years, with higher bars for occupant safety, pedestrian protection, and the effectiveness of driver-assist systems. To see two all-new MINIs land top marks — in all variants, from Cooper C to John Cooper Works — suggests that BMW has fully baked safety into the brand’s latest platforms rather than treating it as optional or add-on tech.

Safety in Numbers

The F66 Cooper scored 83% for adult protection, 82% for child safety, and 81% for pedestrian safety — all very solid figures for the segment. The Aceman posted similar results but did especially well for child safety at 87%. Importantly, these ratings apply across the board. There’s no “only if you tick the right box” fine print.

Here’s a full look at the MINI range when it comes too NCAAP safety ratings.

Model	Adult Occupant Protection	Child Safety	Pedestrian / Vulnerable Road User Protection	Safety Assist Systems
F66 MINI Cooper 3-door	83%	82%	81%	77%
J05 MINI Aceman	83%	87%	77%	79%
2025 MINI Countryman	83%	87%	81%	79%
MINI Cooper E (J01 Electric)	89%	85%	77%	79%

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Context Matters

This isn’t happening in a vacuum. Earlier this year, the 2025 Countryman also scored five stars, and the all-electric J01 Cooper did the same. That’s four out of four for MINI’s latest lineup — something the brand has never achieved before.

But before we give MINI too much credit, it’s worth pointing out that they’re also standing on BMW Group’s shoulders here. Much of this success comes down to shared crash structures, sensor suites, and assist systems that were engineered for the larger BMW range. MINI benefits from that scale.

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Our Take

It’s easy to dismiss safety ratings as marketing fodder, but in an era where repair costs are skyrocketing and insurance premiums are climbing, these results matter more than ever. Safer cars don’t just mean fewer injuries; they can also mean fewer write-offs after relatively minor accidents — something MINI owners have been facing in recent years.

Does this suddenly make MINI the obvious choice in the small car segment? Not necessarily. The competition is also chasing five-star ratings, and Euro NCAP’s numbers don’t tell the whole story about real-world crashes or long-term repairability. But taken together with the Countryman’s results, this does mark a point of success for MINI and once again proves small cars can be incredibly safe at not just active safety, but passive safety as well.

The post MINI Cooper and Aceman Earn Top Euro NCAP Safety Ratings appeared first on MotoringFile.

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