21. Dateline 1995, 1996, 1997 Minivan IIHS Crash Test.flv 

It's funny to see how much car companies bashed iihs in the 90's and now today rely on their reviews for better sales

The worst part isn't the fact that the Venture did so poorly... it's that GM sold it for 9 years without making a single change to improve it's safety.

What "tests" did GM carry out for their vehicles, a 5MPH crash into a pile of feathers?

6:45 "This is the worst we've seen, I think." Pontiac Trans Sport: "Hold my beer."

oh my god nostalgia flashbacks... When I was a kid my mom recorded this on our vhs player for me to watch again and again. I was fascinated by car crashes, demolition, other male kid stuff. It's funny we used to watch it so much this guy was like a movie star to me I was a huge fan of Brian O'Neill. I used to lie down in with a pillow on top of my head and have my parents determine that "there's just no room down here. I believe the foot is completely separated from the leg." and "It's not even budging!" Looking back I guess I was a strange kid but my parents thought it was funny.

I wonder.... if you crash a Pontiac into an astro, could you taste each others steering wheel??

Love the way GM claims the Transport performed very well but they aren't gonna back up the claim with any kind of picture or some kind of footage.

I love how back then, auto makers were like "yeah, your test is crap because the government doesn't do it. You go too fast and do an unconventional test. BUY OUR CARS because fuck you!" Whereas today, the IIHS is embraced by both the government and auto makers. Well done lads!

And all this damage is at 40 MPH. Just think if it was at 60, 70, or even 80 MPH.

holy crap, my family had a Toyota pevia for 22 years! we never crashed it but it lasted up to 400,000 miles

I'm starting to have a bigger appreciation for the 1977-1989 Chevy Caprice; Father hit a telephone pole in an 84 model in a 45 MPH zone (someone decided to pass cars on a 2 lane road and not yield to him or so it seems, I wasn't there.) He went home from the hospital on the same day and although his knees went through the plastic dashboard and he had seat belt rash and still has issues with his arm, he's alive and can still _walk._ There wasn't any movement of the steering wheel, the pole went in the middle just where the radiator and engine block were.

kylerawks10 These tests were released on November 19, 1996. I am actually watching this to commemorate the 17th anniversary of their release. November 18, 2013 9:07 pm

I’m Surprised that the Pontiac Trans Port doesn't have a legendary meme status for how unsafe it is, because it totally deserves it.

my favorite part is when they’re talking about the astro and the reporter says “what if this had been a woman, shorter, and lighter?” then immediately cuts to a frame that shows that she is taller than o’neil

to think that i actually rode in a pontiac trans sport everyday at on point in my childhood... scary shit

This guy who represents the manufacturing of cars is full of shit. He is clearly covering for the POOR, subpar car saftey designs. Thank you IIHS for these videos.

General Motors: our minivans are super safe! The IIHS and the mass ignition switch recall: Sure Jan.

These were my favorite things to watch on mbnbc during the weekends before I had the internet.

We don't talk about gm vans

Here's a millisecond-by-millisecond comparison between the 2005 Honda Odyssey and the Trans Sport (which, keep in mind, was still sold under the same design as late as 2005 as the Chevy Venture). Two vans, sold new, in the same model year. The '05 Chevy Venture's airbags are a little different in design, but in this crash mode wouldn't make a lick of difference. Besides, the test report I have is of this Trans Sport. 0 ms: The vans hit the offset barriers. 27 ms: The Trans Sport's airbag doors rip open, and the front airbags begin to inflate. 32 ms: The Odyssey's driver seat belt pretensioner activates, tightening the seat belt across the driver's chest. 36 ms: The Trans Sport's driver airbag slams into the driver's face, probably breaking the nose if it were a real person. This would be the least of his problems. 48 ms: The Odyssey's steering wheel hub rips open, and the driver airbag begins to inflate. The passenger airbag will not inflate because not enough weight is on the seat. 52 ms: The Trans Sport's interior begins to structurally collapse. The driver's seat begins to move. 62 ms: The Odyssey's driver airbag reaches its maximum rearward extent. It never touches the driver, who is at no risk of airbag injury. At the same time, the Trans Sport driver starts moving into the driver airbag. 70 ms: The Trans Sport driver's legs are being smashed as the footwell intrudes. The left foot is being rapidly rotated upward. The steering wheel is rapidly moving upward. 76 ms: The Odyssey's driver airbag assumes its fully inflated shape and begins to deflate. 80 ms: The Trans Sport driver's foot snaps off from the tibia. 84 ms: The Odyssey driver's head finally meets the inflated driver airbag. 97 ms: The Trans Sport's steering wheel has been driven through the airbag, and the head gets shoryukened back, straining the neck. 100 ms: The Odyssey's steering wheel moves back only slightly - less than two inches. This has no effect on the driver's injury measures. 105 ms: The Trans Sport's headrest hits the driver's head and begins to push down, further straining the neck. 114 ms: The Odyssey's driver loses his grip on the steering wheel. 120 ms: The Trans Sport driver's neck gets seriously injured. 130 ms: The Odyssey's driver reaches the forward-most point of his movement and begins moving back toward the seat. The body and steering wheel never got to meet. At the same time, the Trans Sport driver has assumed his final position. 230 ms: As the Odyssey driver moves rearward and to the left, the side airbags deploy, preventing the head and chest from hitting anything hard. Fortunately, it was only a dummy in the Trans Sport's driver's seat. In real life, if these two vehicles hit head on, the Trans Sport's driver would probably end up unconscious or in severe pain, with life threatening injuries. The Odyssey's driver would come to in a largely intact interior, with the deflated pink airbag hanging out of the ripped open steering wheel hub being the first thing he saw, and the strong smell of burning rubber from the airbag propellant. His injuries would probably consist of a few cuts and bruises. It would be whoever was in the Odyssey who would call for help and/or try to assist the driver of the Trans Sport. All I can say is, whoever gets hit head on in one of these death-trap minivans, I hope you survive. March 17, 2020 6:26 am

typical GM. denying there is a problem with their vehicles

I'm so glad my parents had volvos when we were growing up, and didn't buy into the minivan craze in the 90s and 00s. The Volvo isn't as easy to get in and out of with kids or as big as a minivan, but volvo, Saab, and Mercedes were the only ones that really cared about safety back then. these companies spared no expense when building safe cars, while everyone else was trying to cut costs even at the expense of safety, but trying to meet the bare minimum standards.

Looking at these crash tests has made me appreciate newer cars a bit more, especially me involved in a crash with crumple zones, seatbelt and airbags. I just wish the older vehicles from the 80's and 90's had the same safety measures

The Windstar I was hauled around as a kid may have had a shitty unreliable power train but at least it was safe.

It's insane to think of how unsafe that GM minivan design is, how behind the times it is. Keep in mind that this was a brand new design, sold all the way until 2005! If it was this bad - far worse than even the second-worst performer - at launch, just imagine how bad it was by 2005! The Toyota Previa - a van with a very short front end and an old design at this time - did much better than the GM minivan. So did the Mazda MPV, which had a structural design dating back to 1989! IIHS rates on a "demerit" system. 0-3 is good, 4-9 acceptable, 10-15 marginal, 16 or more poor. The Windstar came away perfectly, no demerits. The Chrysler minivans got 11 demerits. Every other van, 11-16 demerits. The Aerostar, 18 demerits. The Previa, 26 demerits (it was second worst). The GM minivans got a whopping *40* demerits! Most poor-performing vehicles were getting less than 25! This death trap, a brand new design, got 40 demerits while most vans with designs 5-10 years older were getting less than half that! And you have to keep in mind that this van was THE LAST of these designs in production! All the others were replaced with safer versions years before the GM minivans were! By 2005, this van was a pathetic joke. Who in their right mind bought a brand new 2005 Chevy Venture? None of the other '05 minivans got even 10 demerits. Most were getting good ratings, in fact the Toyota Sienna and Honda Odyssey got no demerits at all. The Odyssey's performance was so good that that same body style of van got a Top Safety Pick in 2008 and 2009! I would love to see a van-to-van, 40 mph offset of an '05 Odyssey vs. an '05 Chevy Venture. March 17, 2020 5:39 am

All minivan in america crash test. (40 mph) 2:38 Ford Winstar 3:27 Dodge Grand caravan 4:27 Chevrolet Astro/Gmc Safari 5:29 Ford Aerostar 6:35 Toyota Previa 7:47 Pontiac Transport (Brand new design from general motor)

Back when I was younger my mom owned a 1996 Windstar, and it was fully loaded and good lord was it nice, she drove that thing until it hit 363,000 miles! That shows that the first generation Windstar was reliable and safe! I bought it from her a few years ago and although I only use it to get groceries and drive to my mom’s house, it still runs like it’s new, I fixed the rust on the surface and repainted it to make it look new. I love that Windstar.

20 years later... GM and Ford are out of the minivan business (good riddance since their minivans were kinda crap... except for the Freestar and Monterey, maybe) Kia's entered the fray Hyundai had a Minivan, but was discontinued due to slow sales Chrysler has their new minivan out right now Toyota has the Sienna Honda has the amazing Odyssey Nissan's Quest is one of the worst performers

This generation of GM minivans is so unsafe that it's become legendary. August 17, 2020 2:57 am

When Dateline was so much more than true crime stories.

Wonder if he traded the previa in for a windstar.

At least it isn't the Brilliance BS6..... XD

Wtf did GM do when they tested the transport. Crash them to a stack of pillows in 1 mph!?!

Its good to hear that parents are safe and good drivers

11:25, there's *never* a "Too fast" for a car crash

2:15 BeamNG in real life.

Windstar may have been the safest, but too bad it was unreliable as shit. I see tons more Caravans, Astros, and even Previas still on the road today from this era than I do Windstars.

Great minivans provide balance of comfort, convenience, versatility, and road manners. However, they also need to be safe and reliable. Dateline did a good job with this helpful news piece. Not Legal Advice. For information only. Please consult with an attorney for legal advice.

Ford Windstar: Good Dodge Grand Caravan: Marginal Chevrolet Astro/GMC Safari: Poor Ford Aerostar: Poor Honda Odyssey/Isuzu Oasis: Marginal Pontiac Transport/Montana/Opel/Vauxhall Sintra/ Chevrolet Venture/Oldsmobile Silhouette: Poor Toyota Previa: Poor Mazda MPV: Marginal

4:37 I always wanted to know what a steering wheel tastes like..... 8:33 Like a steering wheel necklace

Umm excuse me 40 MPH to high speed of a crash test?!?!?!? That's how fast the cars in city's are usually FORCED to drive at BY LAW!!! What do they test them at 10 MPH?!?!?!

My dad had an astro, glad he sold the piece of shit before I was born.

12:35 Result Of Car Good Rating: Ford Windstar Marginal Rating: Mazda Mpv Dodge Grand Caravan Honda Odyssey Nissan quest Poor Rating: Chevrolet Astro Ford Aerostar Toyota Previa Pontiac Trans Sport Oldsmobile Silhouette Chevrolet Venture

And now in days the safest minivans are the Honda Odyssey & Kia's Sedona. Toyota hasn't gotten that title in awhile & they claim to be the "best".

It’s 2020 and the Nissan Quest is still a death trap. While others have surpassed it in safety.

They should buy a used Trans Sport and test it today, that would be really cool.

Remember: the Toyota Previa is mid engine, RWD.

It's of course obvious that all of these are horrendous deathtraps by modern standards. But coming from an era when automakers other than Volvo and Mercedes had only just started to care about serious safety equipment that worked for purposes other than producing appealing ad copy, I'm fairly impressed. As recently as surviving a crash had stopped being a luxury item at that point, it's impressive how far they'd come. Rewind 10 year further back and every vehicle in this segment crumples like a tin can the way Indian cars do today and severely injures everyone inside at highway speeds. Rewind 20 years back and designing cars for crash safety wasn't even really on the radar. Ditto compact cars and economy sedans, I wouldn't want to be within 20 feet of an 80s Chevy Cavalier whether it's running or not, and 70s cab forward vans frequently left moderate speed crashes without much of a passenger compartment in front of the driver's seat at all. Believe it or not, all of the cars in this test, as bad as they look, vastly exceed whatever owners at the time were upgrading from in that the only occupant likely to be killed is the driver.

Yay Ford Windstar rules! It was the travel/commuter/everyday car for my family for many years.

The driver of that Chevy Astro is eating that air bag right now

11:29 an ultra-hugh test at 40 miles per hour . This is tragically hilarious.

The 1984 Toyota Van would've done even worse than the Previa. I will still buy a Previa as long as I pay very precise attention on the road.

Minivans crash test at 40 mph (64 km/h) 3:27 Dodge Grand Caravan 4:26 Chevrolet Astro/GMC Safari 5:28 Ford Aerostar 6:34 Toyota Previa 7:47 Pontiac Transport

After the Trans Sport test, IIHS said that the Pontiac Trans Sport was the worst performer we have ever tested, with potentially fatal injuries for the driver. Brian O'Neill noted that this crash could have proven fatal for a human occupant. I would never drive that vehicle, EVER because of this!

The Pontiac Trans Port is the worst crash test that IIHS has ever preformed. The 2001 Ford f150 is a close second but the Trans Port is worse.

I bet GM wished the IIHS hadn't retested the Transport even though the first test was too fast. Then, instead of the dummy indicating serious injury, it would instead indicate....probable death. When George Parker opens in his mouth he must have been choking on his own bile saying nonsense like "less than 1% of accidents happen at 40mph or higher." "Safety is not the point."

what the car companies are saying is, we dont care what happens to you, if it costs us more to make them safer, than thats not in our budget

Back when TV was still using analog, even though I was really little and dont really remember analog, something about seeing the analog just makes me feel nostalgic or deja vu, simpler times, back when the video wasnt crystal clear and women all sounded the same and men all sounded the same

Never buy a car until you see one of these videos.

ah the 90's the last decade when crash tests were spectacular

Everyone: Fords are Auful CHEAPLY MADE!! BREAKS EASLY!!! Ford: would you rather die in a Pontiac?

I recall my wife wanting a mini van back in the mid 90s. I told her you have to see this video and prove to her that they were unsafe. We bought a an SUV instead.

You see, they make the passengers as the crumple zones.

After watching over 100 Crash Tests and reading many reviews from different sources I came to a conclusion. The tiny "Smart Car" has a basic Roll Cage or hard shell to protect the occupants because they have no room for any significant 'crumple zones' to absorb G-forces. The safest cars/trucks/vans all have side curtain airbags. If you built a full sized car/truck/van with the Roll Cage like the Smart Cars AND made side curtain Airbags and Seatbelt Pretensioners mandatory it would save thousands of Lives per year. Of course the price of new vehicles would have to increase to pay for this level of Safety. It might be worth doing, only if the price is not too high. We know HOW to do it, but do we have the will to do it?

Wow. What a shame Ford discontinued the Windstar. That was a great minivan

It was a little funny to see the steering wheel fall out when they opened the door.

Omg my family had a Toyota previa for years and my dad fell asleep while driving it once when we were in driving in France on a mountain road and we were bouncing of the barrier 😳

For the Previa - Thats what happens when you put the engine in the middle of the car and put barely anything in the front, just look at cabovers, even when the driver is higher, its still dangerous

6:43 Bro hit us 💀

3:33 Just 5 years later, the Grand Caravan would get a Poor rating due to the fuel tank leaking.

Wow the Astro totally buckled. The Aerostar steering wheel snapping off is so dangerous and let’s not even mention the Transport. It speaks for itself

Luckily, the Astro and Savannah were mostly sold as cargo vans and occasionally sold as passenger vans, not minivans

I would test at 65 mph.

The balls on the guy that wrote a letter claiming that "less than 1% of offset crashes happen at 40mph".....

And this Pontiac Trans Sport.......was a redesign! This was the Trans Sport that was an improvement Imagine what the 1990 model was like?☠

My grandpa got in a crash in the Chevrolet astro he got rear ended by some car going fast amazingly he survived he only had a broken back

The ford windstar saved my life

I hate how it's always about "meeting" the federal standard. A standard that is no doubt effected by tons of bureaucratic BS all in the name of lowering costs. What a shitty cop out.

I wonder how honest this is. Firstly, this is the same Dateline that tried to make sidesaddle GM trucks look like BBQs. Second, the 1G GM U-bodies are built like race cars (space framed) instead of body-on-frame or unibody. If you want legit crash testing, ask Volvo.

"Too fast" lol... the Venture was sold as Opel Sintra in Europe, and it failed miserably at way older, easier crash tests. It was questionable even for late 80s standards. At that time GM and Ford were already selling cars in Europe that did okay in the EuroNCAP moderate overlap test, the equivalent of this. The Omega B1, a 1993 design, got 3 stars, so did the Fiesta IV from 1995. Other manufacturers were able to build really safe minivans, like the Renault Espace III from 1996 (4 Stars). They knew their competition, they knew what was coming, they tested their vehicles for this, but they just chose to say "fuck it" here. I would have loved to hear the response of these spin doctors had somebody called them out on that.

I was Very surprised the WinStar came out on top!

40 MPH isn't fast at all!

An old couple in a 1994 Caravan ran a red light and t-boned a 2012 Toyota Sienna flipping the Sienna over twice, the old couple immediately got out and walked over to see if the people in the Sienna were alright, unfortunately the couple and their three kids were seriously injured and had to be cut out of the van and airlifted, I never found out if anyone in the van survived. The body on frame Caravan was still driveable surprisingly.

It’s really cool how you know all cars relatives

An uncle had a 2005 Venture and they crashed from behind, the trunk was destroyed.

I cannot believe they think a 40 mile an hour crash is a fast speed. 99% of my commute to work is 55 miles an hour, so what they are telling me is no matter what my car will not protect me. G and look for any excuse to deny issues with their vehicles.

Honestly makes me feel safe that my parents drove me in a 2001 ford Windstar.

11:15 listen to whats said, too fast? See in this day and age we have dash cams and if you look at the majority of them, someone is Hot Headed and is SPEEDING right into someone else! I hope this is type of test is mandatory today.

The funny thing is, you can still see a whole bunch of Toyota Previa on the road today but almost none of the others....

Good that GM redesigned the Pontiac trans port in 2005 and that version got a good rating

The Dodge looks better in this test than it does today.

There's a difference between measuring speed, and rate of energy at impact. If 2 cars are traveling at 20mpg **towards each other**, they are covering ground at ~40mph combined. The damage is not double because both cars absorb each others energy on impact. The key thing here is rate of speed. In which scenario will two people meet each other quicker- two people running at each other, or one running while the other waits? Obviously the first one.

Hey 00crashtest if you test crash the 1st gen sienna in small overlap it will get good and a best pick 😂

I drive an '07 Caravan and used to have a '98 Caravan...that is scary. Wow.

Deam baby! Falto la lumina APV 1996. 15-SEP-2019

4:59 that's like a terror

Yeah. My sister is mentally incapacitated. She believes an older van would've been safer than my Benz. My Benz saved my life. I also wasn't wearing a seat belt going 60 mph......so there's that. Jealousy truly is an illness. She made comments about my child as well and was upset I wouldn't take her to Disney World. Obviously not. We aren't cool.

Pontiac transport 1997 to 2005 is so dangerous

I want to see Trans Sport's small overlap crash test so bad 😭

they think 40 is fast? Wtf a head on with two cars going 20