Mine's gone...

[Schrade]

2 years and a week exactly - 10/06/06...

Head on with a drunk - square, headlight to headlight, both goin' 55, 110 mph combined, no exaggeration, on police report. Never got my foot off the gas...

I'm hobblin' for life. He's done decomposin' by now. Too bad dude - not my fault.

NHTSA frontal impact stats almost came true - check WIKI.

Move your seat WAY back.

[cjstew4]

Sorry to hear about your almost fatal accident in your Venture. Glad to hear that you survived.

[MagicRat]

Yikes. Sorry to hear about this. Thats terrible.

I found this on Wikipedia about the Venture minivan. Glad now I did not buy one.

The Insurance Institute for Highway Safety tested the Pontiac Trans Sport (a twin of the Venture) in 1997, and it got a "Poor" rating in the offset frontal tests because the front end of the passenger compartment buckled and crumpled upward, with heavy upward steering wheel movement, which caused the dummy to move upwards in a position that would injure a real human. In addition, one of dummy's feet snapped off, which would also mean heavy injury and or paralyzation of an actual human.

[Cressidaadr]

Originally Posted by cbec1999

NHTSA frontal impact stats almost came true - check WIKI.

Move your seat WAY back.

Thanks for the report. I have wondered what would actually happen in a front end impact and was hoping that the collapse of the front end would not be as bad as the pictures. Was anyone in your passenger side front seat?

I don't see how moving the seat back is going to do much good and from looking at the NHTSA test the air bags don't seem to help like one would imagine. The darn A pillars fold up and the firewall moves back right into your feet and shins.

I drive my teens to school everyday in the Venture van. I
guess I should just demand that they both sit in the second row seating as it really is that important. I have even looked under and around the front end to see if I can find any places to add an extra steel bracing bar but there just isn't any room in there. If anyone has successfully added an extra brace let me know. What a shame the engineers can't get it right forcing me to try and develop a better design to protect my family. It is like they probably made the design to perform as we would hope up to about 25-30 mph but after that ... sorry buddy you are not worth the extra $50 it might cost GM. #&*@#

If you care to add any more comments about what damage was experienced to your vehicle it might be helpful to others down the road. Of course, you may not have gotten to see how it all looked after impact as you were removed to the nearby emergency room.

Real sorry to hear about the accident. I do hope with more time you legs and any other conditions will improve.

[MagicRat]

Originally Posted by Cressidaadr

It is like they probably made the design to perform as we would hope up to about 25-30 mph but after that ... sorry buddy you are not worth the extra $50 it might cost GM. #&*@#
.

Well, they did spend the $$$ to modify the Venture design by adding a longer nose and called it the Uplander.
While the change was due to styling considerations as much has anything, the front bumper was moved forward about a foot, allowing for more crush space and (hopefully) better crash performance.

['97ventureowner]

Originally Posted by MagicRat

Well, they did spend the $$$ to modify the Venture design by adding a longer nose and called it the Uplander.
While the change was due to styling considerations as much has anything, the front bumper was moved forward about a foot, allowing for more crush space and (hopefully) better crash performance.

Yep. The Uplander does have better crash performance, and shortly after purchasing mine I read an article about the NHTSA crash tests and that they awarded the Uplander a 5 star rating for frontal crash. The article also said how they were much improved over their predecessor, the Venture. Here's a short video of a crash test on a 2005 Uplander I found on Youtube:http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lCqS1xIm4tg And here is one for the Venture/Montana:http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HDQrPnAhSmI

[Schrade]

Originally Posted by '97ventureowner

Yep. The Uplander does have better crash performance, and shortly after purchasing mine I read an article about the NHTSA crash tests and that they awarded the Uplander a 5 star rating for frontal crash. The article also said how they were much improved over their predecessor, the Venture. Here's a short video of a crash test on a 2005 Uplander I found on Youtube:http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lCqS1xIm4tg And here is one for the Venture/Montana:http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HDQrPnAhSmI

I could never look at the video. I have never seen my Venture, but friends have. They don't say much when they see me.

No, no passengers. They might have had their seat belt on. I did not. It would have cut me probably to the spine in a 55 - 0 stop. The airbag did as it was supposed to - I could smell the gunpowder. I still broke #5, 6, 7 ribs, left and right symmetrical from the steering wheel - squeezed the bag pretty tight. Guts got pretty squished too. I'm doin' pretty good tho'. Thanks Jesus Christ (serious). NO one survives that without his hand in there. The other guy didn't, WITH a seatbelt.

Cressiddadr - get your kids in the second row. Don't take ANY lip, and say it ONCE. Important people ride in the back of the Limo.

Seat back will give your knees room when the floorboard comes up. My seat was back. My knees went into the bolster, and there was no room for squeeze. Right leg drove into the foot from the knee (that's how the dummy's foot broke off in testing). Serious ankle mods, but still an 'ankle', again, thanks to JC. Left knee did ok, just rolled the kneecap around the side, and snapped off half of the end of the femur. Think of those 2 'knuckles' on a drumstick, splittin' apart. Grossed out yet? I DO have to shim a laptop tho'

Again, get the youngin's in the back. Startin' YESTERDAY.

[Cressidaadr]

Originally Posted by cbec1999

I could never look at the video. I have never seen my Venture, but friends have. They don't say much when they see me.

No, no passengers. They might have had their seat belt on. I did not. It would have cut me probably to the spine in a 55 - 0 stop. The airbag did as it was supposed to - I could smell the gunpowder. I still broke #5, 6, 7 ribs, left and right symmetrical from the steering wheel - squeezed the bag pretty tight. Guts got pretty squished too. I'm doin' pretty good tho'. Thanks Jesus Christ (serious). NO one survives that without his hand in there. The other guy didn't, WITH a seatbelt.

Cressiddadr - get your kids in the second row. Don't take ANY lip, and say it ONCE. Important people ride in the back of the Limo.

Seat back will give your knees room when the floorboard comes up. My seat was back. My knees went into the bolster, and there was no room for squeeze. Right leg drove into the foot from the knee (that's how the dummy's foot broke off in testing). Serious ankle mods, but still an 'ankle', again, thanks to JC. Left knee did ok, just rolled the kneecap around the side, and snapped off half of the end of the femur. Think of those 2 'knuckles' on a drumstick, splittin' apart. Grossed out yet? I DO have to shim a laptop tho'

Again, get the youngin's in the back. Startin' YESTERDAY.

The NHSTA test in which the Venture got about the worst results of any vehicle they had ever tested was for a 40 mph offset test.

IMO, the implication by GM has been that for a full frontal impact, which is the type of collision cbec1999 experienced, the results would have looked better because the van body structure would have offered better protection to the occupants. The reason being that the forces would be spread out more instead of being more focused.

We are talking about a 55 mph impact here - well beyond the 40 mph crash test.

Cbec1999 did anyone tell you the make and model of the other vehicle? I would have to think that it had to be a car of some type and the mass advantage you had being in the van may be about the only physical explaination of why you are still with us.

Also was it a 1998 or newer Venture? In 98 they got the second generation airbags but I don't think that would have worked in your favor in this case since the impact forces were so severe.

[Schrade]

Originally Posted by Cressidaadr

The NHSTA test in which the Venture got about the worst results of any vehicle they had ever tested was for a 40 mph offset test.

IMO, the implication by GM has been that for a full frontal impact, which is the type of collision cbec1999 experienced, the results would have looked better because the van body structure would have offered better protection to the occupants. The reason being that the forces would be spread out more instead of being more focused.

We are talking about a 55 mph impact here - well beyond the 40 mph crash test.

Cbec1999 did anyone tell you the make and model of the other vehicle? I would have to think that it had to be a car of some type and the mass advantage you had being in the van may be about the only physical explaination of why you are still with us.

Also was it a 1998 or newer Venture? In 98 they got the second generation airbags but I don't think that would have worked in your favor in this case since the impact forces were so severe.

Worst test results. Wow.

Mine was a 2000. Had some work finished up on it in this forum, just a few days before the accident.

The report says his vehicle was a celebrity (or citation); '94, I think. I had him by not too much, since all my rear seats were out. I had just pulled the ENTIRE INTERIOR, carpet too, and deep cleaned. The rear seats were drying in the spare bedroom (still there, clean as new, if anybody want 'em )

Got you kids in the back right??? Good job.

[Wr_guy]

Gee....any car that allows a driver w/o a seatbelt to survive a 110mph head on crash has got to be pretty good in the crash department.

Instead of cursing the car, I'd be praising it.

As for the guy wanting to re-engineer his car with a brace becasue he thinks GM is too cheap to do so..I can assure you that even with a massive superiority in technical skills you would only serve to make the van much more dangerous in a crash or otherwise.

Better to just go out and buy a Peterbuilt.

[phipps]

Just watched the Venture crash test video.....scary!!! Wife totaled hers a couple weeks ago and we picked up an 06 Uplander yesterday. Really like the Uplander. Really hoping that the Ventures problems were not inherited by the Uplander.