It's my opinion that the Vanagon is extremely safe, at least from a front end collision perspective. This is based on 2 eipsodes. First, hit a full buck deer stopped in the highway when I was doing 70 mph. According to the highway patrol who checked on the animal after I assessed the damage and figured I could get a couple more miles before the coolant ran out--he had never seen a deer in so many parts. Damage: radiator, steering squeeked afterward, bumper, of course. That's it. Eipsode 2: Hit by an 18 wheeler on the left side as we were making a left turn and he was passing us on the left. My son and I are convinced we would be dead if we had been in anything other than a van. A side note: although the truck was 100% at fault, the truck's insurance company, I think they were self insured, only gave me $1500 for my 85 van, despite having only 500 miles on a new engine. In Nevada it is a shared liability state, so they claimed we were 50% at fault. I know a bunch of BS, but my alternative was to go to Minnesota from Nevada to sue them for true value. |
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