Toyota, Honda and Nissan Models Perform Best

For the first time the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety has evaluated the performance of minivans in side impact crash tests. The tests simulate crashes in which SUVs or pickup trucks strike the sides of minivans. These are the kinds of crashes that can occur at intersections when a vehicle runs a red light or stop sign.

Three minivans with standard side airbags — Toyota Sienna, Nissan Quest, and Honda Odyssey — earned the Institute's highest rating of good (side airbags were optional in the 2005 Sienna). The Sienna and Quest earned the added designation of "best pick" for side crash protection. The Sienna also is a "best pick" in the Institute's frontal offset test, so this minivan with side airbags is a "double best pick" for front and side crashworthiness.

The Ford Freestar with optional side airbags earned a rating of acceptable. When the Freestar and Mazda MPV were tested without their optional side airbags, both earned the lowest rating of poor (the MPV with optional side airbags wasn't tested).

These ratings reflect performance in a side impact crash test in which a moving deformable barrier strikes the driver side of a passenger vehicle at 31 mph. The barrier weighs 3,300 pounds and has a front end that is shaped like the front of a typical pickup or SUV. In each side struck vehicle are two instrumented dummies the size of a small (5th percentile) woman, one positioned in the driver seat and one in the rear seat behind the driver.

The Institute didn't test the Chevrolet Uplander or the Dodge Grand Caravan/ Chrysler Town & Country minivans because design changes intended to improve their performance in side impact crashes are under way. The Institute will test these vehicles plus the redesigned Kia Sedona early next year.

"The risk of dying in frontal crashes has been reduced dramatically in recent years," said Institute chief operating officer Adrian Lund. "But there haven't been the same risk reductions in side impact crashes. We expect this test to drive manufacturers to make side airbags with head protection standard and improve side structures to better protect occupants in side impacts."

Federal testing doesn't reflect many real-world crashes. The federal government also conducts side impact tests for consumer information but uses a barrier that was designed in the 1980s when cars represented most vehicles on the road. The height of the barrier's front end is below the heads of the dummies that measure injury risks in side-struck vehicles. The federal test doesn't assess the risks of head injury from impacts with vehicles like SUVs and pickups. (CONTINUE...)