I don't know if you saw the crash tests conducted late 1996 on current minivans, or not. These tests were conducted by a representative of the US insurance companies. These crash tests involved an offset barrier (as opposed to a straight wall, as used by the US DOT). This test was similar to that used by TUV (German gov't). In these tests, most severe injuries where caused by the floor buckling upward, just in front of the driver's seat and crushing the driver's legs. This was consistent in all vans, except the Ford Windstar (did not test EV). I figure that this was caused by an over stiff engine compartment, which caused a lot of the crash energy to be transferred into the passenger cell. So much for that protection, UP-FRONT! Besides, most modern cars are designed so that the engine/transmission easily slides under the floor in a frontal impact. Then, there's those airbags .... ____________________________________________ Michael Stocker <mdstockr@neo.lrun.com> North Canton, Ohio, USA 3/29/97 10:22:01 PM EST ____________________________________________
|
Please note - During the past 17 years of operation, several gigabytes of
Vanagon mail messages have been archived. Searching the entire collection
will take up to five minutes to complete. Please be patient!
Return to the archives @ gerry.vanagon.com
The vanagon mailing list archives are copyright (c) 1994-2011, and may not be reproduced without the express written permission of the list administrators. Posting messages to this mailing list grants a license to the mailing list administrators to reproduce the message in a compilation, either printed or electronic. All compilations will be not-for-profit, with any excess proceeds going to the Vanagon mailing list.
Any profits from list compilations go exclusively towards the management and operation of the Vanagon mailing list and vanagon mailing list web site.