Not to derail this thread too far, but yes, i have,
and that seems testament to the van *not* being safe.
An infinitely rigid vehicle just transmits all the
force into you.  Also, those results allude to the
volvo driver likely being killed in the accident.
Ummm... great?  Don't you think both drivers would be
better off if both vehicles were volvos?  Or do you
think two vans smashing into each other would be the
safest for the drivers?  At least our airbags would
save... oh darn.

SUVs are horrible because they have taken a step back
in safety technology - bypassing crumple zones and all
that useless "engineering" stuff that goes into making
a passenger vehicles safe (not mandated by the work
truck guidelines those behemoths fall under).
Relatively small impacts injure SUV drivers because
there is no softening of the crash.  Unfortunately,
vanagons are closer to SUVs than volvos in this
respect... and it pains me to say that.

This safety liability is, in part, necessitated by the
6" crumple zone our seating position has.  Now, i
think the german engineers did an excellent job with
the design constraints they had, but that doesn't mean
we are driving the safest vehicle out there.  My
personal belief, however, is that safety equipment is
no substitute for a safe driver, which is why i am OK
with driving my van.  Of course, everyone thinks they
are a good driver, so that point doesn't really count,
i suppose.

I am sure this is going to garner a few unfavorable
responses, but take a step back and look at how our
vans handle impacts vs. highly engineered automobiles
designed to save the drivers (race cars, etc.).  All
that said, i've taken my van up to some pretty high
speeds and felt quite comfortable with it :-).

Be safe out there, and have fun!

-damon

--- Andrew Grebneff
<andrew.grebneff@STONEBOW.OTAGO.AC.NZ> wrote:
>
> Van safety... ever looked at the Caravelle vs Volvo
> website?

=====
'84 Westy (Sparky) w/2.3L WBX - New! With 25% fewer spun rod bearings!
Vancouver, BC

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