The popular image of the family station wagon has changed forever. In late 1983, a new vehicle style was born: Chrysler Corp. unveiled its new vehicle called a minivan. It was a cross between a truck, a station wagon and a car. Chrysler's original models, the Plymouth Voyager and Dodge Caravan, were quickly imitated by foreign and domestic competitors and have become mainstream vehicles today. Chrysler alone boasts over 5.7 million minivan owners.

Several significant features of minivans warrant the attention of emergency service personnel. Our University of Extrication series on minivans will address the following related to minivan vehicles:

• High occupant load.

• Government crash testing Head Injury Criterion (HIC).

• Minivan "flat nose" design.

• Metal and plastic body panels and structural members.

• Jammed sliding side door.

• Driver's side sliding side door.

• Supplemental restraint system airbags.

• Special considerations of customized vans.

This cutaway view of a Chrysler Town & Country minivan reveals typical seating for seven occupants. Note lap and shoulder harness seatbelt systems are provided for the outboard seat positions only.

High Occupant Load
The occupant load of a van or minivan, depending upon the make, model and seating package provided, can be as high as seven individuals or more. The 1998 model Pontiac Trans Sport minivan, for example, offers passenger seating for eight persons.

Recent van and minivan crashes illustrate the challenges faced by first-arriving EMS and rescue crews. Eleven people from New Jersey on their way to Florida were injured when their Ford Aerostar van flipped on Interstate 5 in Virginia. Ten of the 11 people in the van were thrown from the vehicle. A van filled with El Paso, TX, family members and friends rolled over five times near Belen, NM, killing four and seriously injuring three others. In another recent incident, a 5-year-old boy died and nine others were injured, three critically. Their rental van left the roadway and slammed into a signpost in the median of Interstate 85 near Durham, NC.

New minivans now offer integrated child safety seats similar to those available in automobiles. These integrated seats are built right into the middle bench seat. EMS responders must be prepared to immobilize and package pediatric patients found in these special seat systems. One new feature on Chrysler's Grand Caravan allows parents to fully recline the rear seatback to create a kid-size bed. These small unbelted occupants, asleep at the moment of a crash, can be tossed around inside or outside the van during the collision.

With the advent of the sliding "fourth" door, access to occupants inside the minivan is improved. Pontiac's Trans Sport SE minivan has eight-passenger capacity with a middle bench seat configuration. Clip-in or -out type removable middle and rear seating allows for passenger carrying capacity flexibility that is hard for responders to predict.

When patient needs exceed the resources and capabilities of initial response personnel, emergency responders, particularly those with medical responsibilities, must immediately reclassify the incident as a multiple casualty incident and proceed accordingly.

New Vehicle Crash Testing
The head injury criteria (HIC) is a key component of the system by which the U.S. government numerically rates the forces that impact the head of a crash test mannequin in new car assessment programs each year. In 1994, the National Highway and Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) changed the way it rates frontal crash test performances of the cars and trucks it runs into a fixed barrier at 35 mph. Instead of the confusing numerical scale that had been in place for years, NHTSA decided to make the data more user-friendly for interested consumers by converting to a five-star rating system. Currently, a five- star system is used to rate potential injuries to vehicle occupants.

1 Star – Better than 45% chance of life-threatening injury.
2 Stars – A 35-45% chance of life-threatening injury.
3 Stars – A 20-35% chance of life-threatening injury.
4 Stars – A 10-20% chance of life-threatening injury.
5 Stars – Less than a 10% chance of life-threatening injury.

The integrated child safety seat feature requires that EMS responders can fully immobilize and package pediatric patients at accident scenes.

In previous government testing, numbers were assigned, with 1000 being the highest acceptable rating above which the would-be occupant would suffer fatal injuries in a real-world collision. In 1985, the GM Astro/Safari minivan rated an HIC of 2202, twice the acceptable limit, and had the worst driver chest deceleration score of any of the vans tested that year. The 1985 Volkswagen Van Wagon minivan HIC score was 1905. Chrysler's 1984 Voyager/Caravan had an HIC rating of 973. Ten years later, however, with improvements in the crash management of cab-forward vehicle design, test results are different. The 1995 Ford Windstar minivan, due to its design technology and long front nose styling, scored the highest of any of the minivans, a five-star safety rating. Here are some results of crash testing where the entire front end of the vehicle strikes the crash barrier simultaneously:

Crash Test Data 1995 (frontal impact)
• Ford Windstar - Driver: 5 Stars - Passenger: 5 Stars
• Honda Odyssey - Driver: 4 Stars - Passenger: 4 Stars

Crash Test Data 1996 (frontal impact)
• Chevrolet Astro - Driver: 3 Stars - Passenger: 3 Stars
• Chrysler Town/Ctry - Driver: 3 Stars - Passenger: 4 Stars
• Dodge Grand Caravan - Driver: 3 Stars - Passenger: 4 Stars
• GMC Safari - Driver: 3 Stars - Passenger: 3 Stars
• Mazda MPV - Driver: 4 Stars - Passenger: 4 Stars
• Mercury Villager - Driver: 4 Stars - Passenger: 3 Stars
• Plymouth Grand Voyager - Driver: 3 Stars - Passenger: 4 Stars

Crash Test Data 1997 (frontal impact)
• Chrysler Town & Country - Driver: 4 Stars - Passenger: 4 Stars
• Dodge Caravan - Driver: 4 Stars - Passenger: 4 Stars
• Plymouth Voyager - Driver: 4 Stars - Passenger: 4 Stars

Offset Crash Test Data
The Insurance Institute for Highway Safety (IIHS) began conducting offset frontal crash tests in 1995. The offset test is conducted at 40 mph, and vehicles crash into a fixed barrier just like in the NHTSA testing, but only half of the front end of the vehicle contacts the barrier. The IIHS claims this test, at this speed, more accurately reflects the most deadly real-world crash situations. Offset crash tests do not conform to the scale listed above. Notice the significant differences in van performance when offset crashes are simulated:

Crash Test Data (40 mph offset frontal crash)
• 1997 Chevrolet Astro - Poor
• 1997 Chevrolet Venture - Poor
• 1997 Chrysler Town & Country - Marginal
• 1997 Dodge Grand Caravan - Marginal
• 1997 Ford Aerostar - Poor
• 1997 Ford Windstar - Good
• 1997 GMC Safari - Poor
• 1997 Honda Odyssey - Marginal
• 1997 Mazda MPV - Marginal
• 1997 Mercury Villager - Marginal
• 1997 Oldsmobile Silhouette - Poor
• 1997 Plymouth Grand Voyager - Marginal
• 1997 Pontiac Trans Sport - Poor

In 1997, NHTSA began testing side-impact protection as well as frontal impact protection. For side-impact testing, NHTSA runs a deformable barrier into the side of a car twice, once at the front passenger's level and once at the rear passenger's level. As with frontal impact testing, the side-impact test is conducted at 5 mph above the federal standard, which means the deformable barrier hits the car at 38 mph. Side impact test results conform to the scale listed above. NHTSA will begin side-impact testing on trucks in 1999.