Porsche and several other brands still sell rear and mid-engined vehicles
in the US market.  Crumple zones will work with or without a drivetrain up
front.  Personally, I wish VW had simply gone front engine FWD/AWD when
they introduced the T3, using the Audi longitudinal drivetrain and Quattro
arrangement.  This would've saved us lots of hassles all through the life
cycle of these vehicles.

On Fri, Jun 6, 2014 at 10:00 AM, Stuart MacMillan <stuartmacm@gmail.com>
wrote:

> Starting in the '90s NHSTA required front end energy absorbing crumple
> zones in all US vehicles, which is why you won't see a rear engined vehicle
> sold here again.  The body is designed so the engine is forced down and
> under in a frontal impact and its mass absorbs some of the force of the
> crash, protecting the cockpit.  Combine that with a bunch of airbags and
> you've got a much safer vehicle.  We Vanagon owners like to live on the
> edge though!
>
> These are nice, practical vans, but are trucks like you said, and they
> couldn't compete with the more refined family minivans from other
> manufacturers.  GM could have refined them (and not just by adding leather
> seats) but opted not to .  But then, GM has made a lot of mistakes . . .
>
> Stuart
>
> -----Original Message-----
>
>   ..... I noticed the front end is more like a normal car...it sticks out
> there
> further than a Vanagon's.
>

--
Casey