Has anyone looked at VW engineering recods for notes on this?

On Sat, Apr 3, 2021 at 9:57 AM Richard Smith (Smirby) <smirby@gmail.com>
wrote:

> This has been debated at great length in TheSamba. It goes back and forth.
>
> The strongest evidence for the tire being incidental to crash worthiness
> is that some Vanagon’s (e.g., synchro) did not - apparently - come with a
> spare tire there.
>
> I think the lack of ANY reference to the tire being in place and that
> being part of the safety design of the van is also indirect evidence that
> suggests VW was not relying on this for the safety of the occupants. By the
> 1990s, I would think such notifications would be prominent in the owners
> manual.
>
> Nevertheless, if people feel safer knowing that there is a spare tire
> there, then I think we should leave them be. Live and let live, I say. If
> someone decided to cut the seatbelts out of their van, I might want to make
> a comment, but removing the spare tire? None of my business, I say.
>
> …r
>
> > On Apr 3, 2021, at 9:49 AM, Gene P <olgreywoof@GMAIL.COM> wrote:
> >
> > Again,, is there anything to this?  Not an engineer, but if I run
> head-on into something, there’s a quarter acre of glass two feet in front
> of my face and a spare tire somewhere down underneath my feet.  How does
> that tire protect me from anything?  The seat belt keeps my butt in the
> seat instead of being launched out into traffic.
> >
> > Also, were the spare tires in the bottom of trunks or underneath truck
> beds there to protect us from backing into something?  I think the spare in
> our vans is where it is because the space was available.
> >
> >   My worn penny,
> > gp
> >
> > From: Stacy Schneider
> > Sent: Saturday, April 3, 2021 8:43 AM
> > To: vanagon@GERRY.VANAGON.COM
> > Subject: Re: Spare tire location
> >
> >        Do we need to remind people that part of the crash worthiness of
> > these vehicles is the spare tire?
> >        If you’re going to take the spare out you may as well not wear a
> > seat belt either.
> >       Both of these item are an engineered  safety item of the van.
> >
> >                                 My .02
> >                                          Stacy
>