Vanagon EuroVan
Previous messageNext messagePrevious in topicNext in topicPrevious by same authorNext by same authorPrevious page (April 1998, week 4)Back to main VANAGON pageJoin or leave VANAGON (or change settings)ReplyPost a new messageSearchProportional fontNon-proportional font
Date:         Wed, 29 Apr 1998 00:35:35 -0500
Reply-To:     Tonya Pope <tonya@TEAMM.COM>
Sender:       Vanagon Mailing List <Vanagon@vanagon.com>
From:         Tonya Pope <tonya@TEAMM.COM>
Organization: Team MainStreet, Inc.
Subject:      Re: Vanagon Crashworthiness
Comments: To: vanagon@vanagon.com
Content-Type: text/plain; charset=us-ascii

> >Hate to be a party pooper, but we vanagoneers should not get too smug about > >crashworthiness. The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration crash > >tested one of our beloved bricks at 35 mph head-on into a fixed barrier. I > >obtained the crash footage from the National Crash Analysis Center, which > >maintains a catalogue of all government crash tests on a website. (Just > >point your browsers to NHTSA)

fwiw, those head-on tests have to be taken with a grain of salt. 1) how many accidents have you seen in real life involving a straight head-on collision with a brick wall (and a brick wall as tall as a vanagon at that)? If a vanagon would be in a head-on collision, in all likelihood the opposing force would be lower than the passengers (or at least the majority of the passenger) 2) even the vehicles that perform exemplary on those tests often perform miserably in similar off-center tests (which is a much more likely accident scenario).

There was a 20/20-type show that showed and compared vehicles (seems like they did have a VW in there -- a jetta maybe?) in how they performed on the 'standard' head-on test and on a second 'off-center' test. Very foggy memory says that there was one vehicle that you'd have a couple scratches and walk away from a straight head-on into a brick wall, but that very same vehicle if you hit something off-center would nearly kill you.

As for the seatbelts, mine are in tiptop shape and lock the spool-out as they should. If anybody has some that don't, whether due to age or perhaps they were like that originally, it might be a good idea to replace/repair (I personally would opt to replace, don't want to take too many chance with safety). A local helicopter pilot was killed a few years ago when he made an emergency landing and his shoulder harness didn't 'lock' to hold him back (got the throttle stick in his neck or chest or something grissly like that)

Tonya 87 Vanagon GL Wolfs

All Rights Reserved this is too stupid to be included in anything meaningful


Back to: Top of message | Previous page | Main VANAGON page

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.