GM, Ford Urged to Improve Van Safety

General Motors Corp. and Ford Motor Co. should add lap-and-shoulder seat belts and other improvements to their 15-passenger vans by 2006 to make them safer in rollover accidents, the National Transportation Safety Board said Tuesday.

The NTSB wants the seat belts on all seats and recommended that the companies improve interiors and strengthen roofs to prevent head injuries during rollover crashes.

The NTSB has the power only to recommend changes, but Chairwoman Ellen Engleman made it clear that the board wants action. “Recommendations are not enough. We want them to be implemented,” she said.

Both automakers said they would consider the recommendations.

GM spokesman Jim Schell said GM already planned to make some of the changes by 2008.

Schell said GM’s 15-passenger vans already met federal standards for head injury prevention and that 11 of the van’s 15 seats had lap-and-shoulder belts. Most injuries happen when an unbelted passenger’s head hits the roof, rather than when the roof is crushed, he added.

The NTSB said 15-passenger vans, which often are used by churches and other groups to transport children, have escaped many regulations that apply to passenger cars.

The NTSB made its recommendations after reviewing data from two fatal 2001 crashes in Texas and North Carolina. In both cases, tires blew out on church vans that were full of teenagers. The vans left the road and rolled over.

In the Texas crash, the driver of the 1993 Dodge van and three passengers were killed. In the North Carolina crash, one passenger in the 1989 Dodge van was killed. DaimlerChrysler, which owns the Dodge brand, no longer makes 15-passenger vans.

NTSB investigators said the tires on both vehicles had significant wear, but the churches did not do routine maintenance and state inspectors didn’t note the problems.

Investigators also pointed out that only three of the 12 passengers in the Texas crash were wearing seat belts. Twelve of the 14 passengers in the North Carolina crash were unbelted.

The NTSB also recommended that the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, American Automobile Assn. and others develop a driver training program for 15-passenger vans to make sure drivers understand that the vans operate differently from cars. The safety board also wants states to adopt license endorsements for 15-passenger vans.

Ford spokeswoman Carolyn Brown said the company was studying improvements but stood by the safety of its 15-passenger van.