New minivans stress safety

Kiplinger's Personal Finance Magazine, Nov, 1998 by Ed Henry

And luxury, too, as manufacturers go all out to get your attention.

Reports of the death of the minivan were greatly exaggerated. When sales fell in 1997--down roughly 4% from a record 770,000 in 1996--some analysts were quick to declare that aging baby-boomers were growing out of the child-rearing, soccer-mom business that had given minivans their raison d'etre.

Au contraire!

With brand-new models from several manufacturers and spruced-up versions from others, 1999 is shaping up to be the year of the minivan. Even Honda--which used to sneer at the competition by promoting its Odyssey as a people carrier for people who wouldn't be seen driving a minivan--has come around. The redesigned Odyssey looks like a minivan, complete with two sliding rear doors.

New models from Ford, Mercury and Nissan have dual sliding doors, too, which have become the norm rather than the exception. And many of these new vehicles can be opened and closed electronically at the push of a button--a neat trick that wowed Danny DeVito in the 1995 film Get Shorty.

Whether you're in the market for your first minivan or a replacement, you'll discover that the new crop is better than ever. They're safer, more utilitarian and easier to drive than earlier models (and surprisingly, prices are expected to be about the same as for the 1998 versions). The top-of-the-line models are more luxurious and aimed at catching the eye of older folks, too. Sam Fiorani, an automotive-market analyst with Standard & Poor's DRI, explains: "Buyers are growing older, so manufacturers are turning out more luxurious minivans in the hopes of selling them to grandparents."

SAFETY FIRST

Manufacturers are heavily `promoting safety features-from sensors that will prevent a sliding door from crushing a child's finger to Ford's ultrasonic sensors that will alert you if you're backing up toward an obstacle, such as a youngster on a tricycle. The emphasis on safety should come as no surprise. "These are family cars," says Fiorani, "and you don't want to hear that your vehicle is unsafe when you're hauling around a 4-year-old child."

The 1999 Ford Windstar, Honda Odyssey, Nissan Quest and its clone the Mercury Villager have depowered, second-generation air bags. These new bags pose less threat to a small adult or a child riding in the front seat out are still powerful enough to protect any properly belted passenger. Optional traction control for more sure-footed performance on slippery roads is increasingly available.

Minivans are safer still because federal passenger car safety regulations now apply to them, including the latest side-impact and interior passenger-protection rules. And because minivans are heavier by design and ride higher than sedans, they have the same safety advantages over cars that large sport utility vehicles do.

As an indication of their manufacturers' increased dedication to safety (and belief in its power as a selling tool), the new Ford Windstar and Honda Odyssey (along with the Toyota Sienna, which was introduced last year) are going after the highest safety rating given by the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA)--five-star protection for the driver and front-seat passenger in the government's 35-mile-per-hour head-on crash tests.

That maximum five-star rating means there's a 10% or smaller chance of a serious injury occurring in a head-on collision when the vehicles are traveling at a combined speed of 70 miles per hour. Four stars means the risk of serious injury is 11% to 20%; three stars, 21% to 35%; two stars, 36% to 45%; one star, 46% or higher. The test results have yet to be released, but the engineers at Ford, Honda and Toyota are confident they'll earn five stars.

How does the competition stack up? In the past, the Nissan Quest and Mercury Villager got four stars on the driver's side and three on the passenger's. It's unlikely that their redesign will reduce the scores.

GM's minivans are basically unchanged from last year, when they earned four stars for the driver and three for the passenger. Chrysler finished last, with scores of three for both driver and passenger. The company that invented the minivan in 1983 actually saw its rating fall when the vehicles were redesigned in 1996 to provide more passenger space. That resulted in a shorter front end and less impact protection.

"The consumer must weigh the potential for injury against other features of the automobile," says James Hackney, an NHTSA official. "The possibility of having a severe crash is small, but if you do get in an accident, you get an extra safety benefit from a vehicle with a high star rating."

Although they aren't required by law, side-impact air bags are appearing on minivans. The inflatable bags are standard on the Chevrolet Venture, Pontiac Montana and Oldsmobile Silhouette, and are optional on the Ford Windstar.

ON THE ROAD

First, you've got to back out of the driveway. As noted earlier, Ford has come up with a "short-range, collision-warning system" for the Windstar. Four ultrasonic sensors in the rear bumper detect obstacles--say, children or another vehicle--that are within 6 feet of the car. You hear a series of warning beeps that increase in frequency as you approach the obstacle. At press time, the company had not set a price for this option.