Some Minivans Fail Rear-End Collision Test
Head restraints in some minivans inadequately protect people against neck injuries in rear-end crashes, the insurance industry said Sunday.
Earning poor overall ratings were seven models subjected to a simulated crash: versions of the 2004-06 model years of the Dodge Grand Caravan and its corporate twin, the Chrysler Town & Country; a version of the 2005-06 Toyota Sienna; and four General Motors Corp. minivans from the 2005-06 model years -- the Chevrolet Uplander, Buick Terraza, Pontiac Montana SV6 and Saturn Relay.
The 2004-06 Ford Freestar and Mercury Monterey received a rating of “good,” the highest mark, from the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety.
An edition of the Dodge Grand Caravan and Chrysler Town & Country with adjustable lumbar and head restraints was rated “acceptable,” the second-highest score. The 2005-06 Honda Odyssey was rated “marginal,” the second-lowest score.
“It’s disappointing that so many minivan seats are rated poor for rear-impact protection,” said Adrian Lund, the institute’s chief operating officer. “Drivers of minivans spend a lot of time on urban and suburban roads where rear-end collisions are common in stop-and-go traffic.”
The minivans were tested on a crash simulation sled that replicates the forces in a stationary vehicle that is struck in the rear by a similar vehicle at 20 mph. Vehicles received a higher rating if the head restraint contacted a dummy’s head quickly and the forces on the neck and the acceleration of the torso were low.
Several automakers took issue with the latest test results.
Max Gates, a DaimlerChrysler spokesman, said the Grand Caravan and Town & Country were “two of the safest vehicles on the road.” He pointed to their top marks in the government’s front- and side-impact crash tests.
“No single test, including the new rear-impact test developed by the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety, can determine a vehicle’s overall safety performance,” Gates said.
Toyota spokeswoman Allison Takahashi said the automaker conducted extensive internal testing of the head restraint system. She said Toyota’s seats incorporated a system that was designed to help reduce neck injuries in rear-end collisions.
“The protection provided by Toyota’s seating systems has always been among the best in the world,” she said.
GM spokesman Alan Adler said the automaker’s head restraints were engineered to offer high levels of safety. He said the institute’s test was “extremely sensitive to variation and can result in different ratings in the same vehicle, such as when one has leather-covered seats and the other has cloth-covered seats.”
The testing also evaluated the height of the restraint and its horizontal distance behind the back of the head of an average-size man. A head restraint should extend at least as high as the top of the ears of the tallest motorist and be placed close to the back of the head so the restraint can support it early in a rear-end crash, the institute said.
Models that received poor or marginal scores for the restraint design were given poor overall marks because they could not be positioned to protect many motorists, the institute said.
Those vehicles included the 2003-05 Chevrolet Astro; the 2004-05 Dodge Grand Caravan with fixed head restraints; the 2003-05 GMC Safari; the 2004-06 Mazda MPV; the 2004-06 Nissan Quest; and the 2005-06 Toyota Sienna models without adjustable lumbar.
