The American Insurance Institute for Highway Safety (IIHS) has published the results of a new series of crash tests. This time the organization has tested the safety level of four minivans: Toyota Sienna, Nissan Quest and "twins" Chrysler Town & Country and Dodge Grand Caravan.
The highest result among the tested models - a rating of "satisfactory" - for a minivan from Toyota. Engineers of the Japanese company updated the power section of the minivan body in the front, but this did not save the car from severe deformation when it hit a 25 percent barrier.
The front of the doorway moved back about 13 cm and the dummy's head slid off the deployed airbag. At the same time, the belt also could not keep the "driver" in place. The situation was saved by air curtains - according to the results of the test, experts said that the risk of serious injury to Sienna passengers is small.
Nissan Quest showed significantly worse results - the front edge of the doorway moved back by almost 60 cm, and the parking brake pedal - by 40 cm. the right leg was freed only with a crowbar. The impact on her turned out to be outside the range fixed by the sensors - after a real accident, the driver would hardly have retained the ability to walk.
IIHS experts noted the well-coordinated work of passenger retention systems in place, but its effectiveness will not be able to compensate for the severe damage to the power part of the car body.
A similar situation was observed in the test results of the "twins" Chrysler Town & Country and Dodge Grand Caravan - the front point of the doorway was 38 cm further than expected, the left foot of the dummy was pierced by the parking brake pedal, and the skin on the left knee was torn off by a metal bracket located under the dashboard . The head of the "driver" barely touched the front airbag and curtain airbag. Outcome: Serious injuries to the knees and hips as a result of an impact that exceeded the sensitivity of the dummy's sensors.
Note that Chrysler and Dodge's results also apply to another identical minivan, the Volkswagen Routan, which ended production in 2012.
According to the results of the test of several minivans, the previously tested Honda Odyssey (good) and Toyota Sienna (satisfactory) turned out to be the leader in safety. The rest of the minivans were rated "poor".
The Institute's specialists say that the small-area crash test is especially difficult for minivans, since such vehicles are often built on the platform of smaller passenger cars - many parts of the body of derivative models are outside the power structure of the car.
Nissan, Chrysler and Dodge minivans fail small overlap crash test
