Il prototipo SSV 1 fu elaborato su base della MG BGT. Carrozzeria uguale a quella del modello di serie però con strutture notevolmente rinforzate e abbondaza di dispositivi in grado di accrescere la sicurezza attiva e passiva: tra gli altri, uno della Smiths che proietta sul parabrezza due linee indicanti la distanza sicura da tenere dall'automobile che precede, a seconda della velocità alla quale si marcia e un altro che praticamente impedisce ad una persona ubriaca di accendere il motore.
La vettura montava anche airbag e cinture di sicurezza.

The SSV1 was prepared by the developement team at Abingdon in 1972, to demonstrate that even small cars were capable of being modfied for optimum safety. This MGB GT-based car featured a wealth of innovative features, including airbags (which worked in combination with passive seat-belts), anti-lock brakes, self-levelling suspension, impact-absorbing side-panels, and a rather curious roof-mounted rearview mirror which afforded the driver a 120-degree field of vision.

Mounting the thick rubber bumpers low down brought two advantages: firstly, if the car ran into the side of another, the point of impact would more likely be in the sill area rather the more vulnerable doors; and were the car to hit a pedestrian, the low point of impact would tend to result in the unfortunate soul being lifted onto the bonnet rather than thrown forward into the car's path. Pedestrian safety was to become a persistent feature of Leyand's future safety prototypes.

The car was also equipped with a novel system designed to prevent tired, inebriated or otherwise incapacitated drivers from taking the wheel. Do you remember the electronic game called Simon, where players had to replicate a sequence of coloured lights by pressing buttons in the correct order? Well, that was precisely what the SSV1 driver would have to do in order to start the car. Get the (randomly generated) sequence wrong three times in a row, and he would have to wait an hour before being allowed to try again. While designed primarily as a safety device, this feature also doubled as pretty effective immobiliser.

The car was presented at the third conference of the America's National Highway and Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) in Washington DC in 1972, but none of its innovations were ever to see the light of day on any production MG to leave the Abingdon works.

Thanks to Keith Adams at
The Unofficial Austin-Rover Web Resource for the photo and the informations on this car.