It's my opinion that the Vanagon is extremely safe, at least from a front
end collision perspective.  This is based on 2 eipsodes.  First, hit a full
buck deer stopped in the highway when I was doing 70 mph.  According to the
highway patrol who checked on the animal after I assessed the damage and
figured I could get a couple more miles before the coolant ran out--he had
never seen a deer in so many parts.  Damage:  radiator, steering squeeked
afterward, bumper, of course.  That's it.

Eipsode 2:  Hit by an 18 wheeler on the left side as we were making a left
turn and he was passing us on the left.  My son and I are convinced we
would be dead if we had been in anything other than a van.  A side note:
although the truck was 100% at fault, the truck's insurance company, I
think they were self insured, only gave me $1500 for my 85 van, despite
having only 500 miles on a new engine.  In Nevada it is a shared liability
state, so they claimed we were 50% at fault.  I know a bunch of BS, but my
alternative was to go to Minnesota from Nevada to sue them for true value.