I feel very safe with my wife driving the kids in our van, The SUV
she brought some years ago is way unsafe I told her.. So with this
said I told her to just keep driving the van.. * its better *

Today some guy cut her off in the middle lane, I told her to
always have her head up and watch the road for looney's, since I
almost rolled it, but found that spot or weakness the vanagon has
at 60ish turning or swerving, the backend likes to whip or swing
during heavy loads/speed.

main thing is to try and drive safe, but not over safe.

--
Joseph  Fortino
fortino1@onebox.com - email
(510) 360 -7829 voicemail/fax

----         Ben McCafferty <bmccafferty@VOLERA.COM> wrote:
> I have to side with Robert on this one--the Vanagon may not have the
> most nimble handling and stopping capabilities, but even its predecessor
> was a pretty good vehicle in a crash.  I was once driving in Colorado,
> 10 mph or so on black ice.  I was in a 1976 Dodge club cab truck.
> Heavy metal.  The guy in front of me lost it, and I put it in the snow
> bank to stop.  He bailed, my back end swung ever so slowly into the
> freeway.  Behind me, Joe Hippy the Moron is coming at 70mph in a 74ish
> microbus.  He t-bones me right on the door--glass everywhere, and he
> moves the passenger door 19 (yes, 19) inches into the cab.  Lucky I
> didn't have a passenger that night.  He wasn't wearing a seatbelt.
>  He was fortunate to submarine under the dash--cut both thighs pretty
> good, and hit his face on the steering wheel.  Very minor injuries
> for such a terrible crash.
> I am of the opinion that the Germans have engineered quite a bit of
> safety into the Vanagon.  It's true that an SUV poses a bad threat.
>  One of the main reasons for this (especially from the sedan driver's
> perspective) is that they have high bumpers.  Since they are classified
> as a light truck, they don't have to meet the same safety and mileage
> specs as other vehicles.  So get on your senators and ask for a change
> to regulations that mandates uniform bumper heights for ALL vehicles.
>  Ever seen what a sedan looks like after it goes under a 48" truck
> deck?  And be happy that your bumper is nice and low, and will be forgiving
> to the unfortunate Neon <g> in your way.....
> bmc  :)
>
> >>> Robert Keezer <WarmerWagen@AOL.COM> 10/18/01 12:27PM >>>
> If I may add a few thoughts here-
> a solid concrete barrier or anything heavy, bigger and or unmovable
> is very
> unforgiving to a Vanagon.
>
>  However, hitting another vehicle such as the Volvo, or in my case,
> a 1992
> Pontiac Grand Am, is another story.
>
> You are familiar with the Volvo -Vanagon crash test. My own personal
> test was
> really a five car pile-up in 1996 and I had no way out but to hit the
> farthest vehicle from me--the Grand AM.
>
> By the time I hit I may have been going 35, skidding 100 feet -knocking
> the
> Pontiac 20 feet away from me. The rear of the car was crunched flush
> with the
> bottom rear window.
>
> My Vanagon was punched in around the right headlight .
>
> No frame or suspension damage-I drove away-the Grand Am was totaled.
> I have seen other cars-anything larger usually gets the upper hand.
> Hitting
> the unmovable or that moving toward your front is the most unforgiving.
> The Accord that rear ended the Grand Cherokee was totalled-the Cherokee
> barely damaged.
> All the sedans in the 5 car pile up were totalled-ecept the Jeep and
> the
> Vanagon-from a personal perspective.( Sure, the insurance company would
> have
> totaled my Westy, but since I didn't have the full coverage I though
> I had, I
> paid out of pocket to have it fixed.)
> My point is you are safer in a Vanagon from most other areas of the
> vehicle
> from impact to sides and rear-and, not being very collapsible, the
> car
> vehicle that hits these areas fares badly. I have seen many vanagons
> that
> were wrecked-hitting a pole dead center is the worst I have seen.
> The others all look like minor injuries or none.
>
>  Vehicles like sedans don't want to be hit by the battering ram Vanagon.
> Even
> your SUV's don't have the crash rail that a Vanagon has. Their higher
> center
> of gravity makes them roll when hit by another vehicle-but they are
> heavy-avoid hitting one.
> And please don't try my test crash.
> Double the minimum distance between yourself and the car ahead as much
> as
> possible-and, if you can't help it, like in stop and go, then only
> behind a
> smaller vehicle. (Sorry, sedans)
>
> Robert
> 1982 Westfalia
>

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