Maybe Minivan Safety Isn’t What You Thought It Was

When we think of vehicles that are safe for our families, particularly our children, we often think of minivans. They’re large, roomy, heavier, and protect occupants better than a standard vehicle. But recent testing shows that this may not be the case, and in fact, minivans may actually be more dangerous than other types of vehicles.

The Back Seat is More Dangerous

Some studies have shown that fatalities are actually more likely for people in the back seat, than for those in the front seats in a minivan.

Minivans have always been thought of as safe vehicles. So why is the government now changing its tune on minivan safety?

It’s because the way that we test minivans for safety has changed over the years. Recently, tests started putting crash test dummies in the backs of minivans, which were more along the sizes of smaller children or even smaller adults. And when they did that, the back seat safety statistics changed for the worse.

Problems With the Back Seat

The people in the front of the minivan experienced no change in safety—recent tests show them fairing the same as they have always been (the safety rating of course varies based on make and model, but whatever the ratings were, remained the same).

But behind the front seat, there was a different story. The back seat of a minivan, with any of its safety features, are designed for full sized individuals—not smaller sized people or children.

With smaller sized passengers, many seat belted back seat passengers, ended up sliding underneath the seat belt, or worse, becoming tangled in the seat belt. Some back seat seat belts even latched onto the dummies’ neck.

In other cases, the seat belts worked too well, fastening too tightly for smaller sized passengers, and the data from the dummies showed what would have been major chest injuries from the belts. Overtightening can also cause head and neck injuries.

There is force limiting technology, designed to prevent overtightening, but even in the vans that had this technology, the dummies still tended to slip under the seat belt.

Lack of Safety Features

Backseat minivan passengers do not have the safety features that those in the front seat have. There are no knee airbags. Some models do have side airbags, but the side airbags in the back seat area often failed to deploy at all.

While every manufacturer is different, all four of the minivans tested (a Chrysler, Kia, Toyota, and Honda) performed poorly, with some marginally better than others.

It’s worth noting that the testing was conducted for children that are not in child seats. Child seats are always the safest place for children who are age appropriate for them, regardless of whether they are in the front or back.

Contact our Rhode Island injury lawyers at Robert E. Craven & Associates at 401-453-2700 if you have been injured in (or even by) a minivan, truck, or in any kind of car accident.

Sources:

autoweek.com/news/a45206138/minivan-crash-test-results-iihs/

cbsnews.com/news/crash-tests-2023-minivans-may-be-unsafe-back-seat-passengers/