Top Safety Pick does its job for ex-IIHS chief Adrian Lund

Lund, who retired from IIHS in 2017, was driving in the Interstate 95 express lanes near his Virginia home last August when a vehicle going the wrong way struck his 2020 BMW 540i, causing it to spin and roll over. The wrong-way driver was ejected and died.

His BMW was an IIHS Top Safety Pick, having earned “good” ratings in all six categories that IIHS assesses, including the small overlap front and roof strength tests that simulate the kind of situation Lund experienced. Lund was bruised and cut and sometimes felt dizzy for several weeks afterward.

But said he had been relieved to discover he still had room to move his legs while hanging upside down as he waited for emergency personnel to cut him out of the vehicle.

“Considering the crash I was in — that I had a frontal followed by a rollover — yeah, I’m pretty lucky,” Lund said. “The car did its job.”