THE ROLLOVER PROPENSITY OF FIFTEEN-PASSENGER VANS
A question has been raised as to whether fifteen-passenger vans, especially loaded fifteen-passenger vans, are unusually susceptible to rollover. Fifteen-passenger vans differ from most light truck vehicles in that they have a large payload capacity and the occupants sit fairly high up in the vehicle. Therefore, when loaded the vehicle may have a much worse rollover propensity than when unloaded. To examine this issue, a brief study was performed in three parts: a review of crash data to look at the record of fifteen-passenger vans; measurement of the Static Stability Factors (SSF) of a fifteen-passenger van, a seven-passenger van, and a minivan; and a simulation analysis of the handling characteristics of an unloaded and loaded fifteen-passenger van. Results of this study are presented in this Research Note. It was concluded that fifteen-passenger vans might be more likely to roll over when fully loaded with occupants than when lightly loaded. Analysis considering the number of occupants in the vehicle showed that fifteen-passenger vans with ten or more occupants had three times the rollover ratio than those with fewer than ten occupants.
- Record URL:
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Corporate Authors:
National Center for Statistics and Analysis
1200 New Jersey Avenue, SE
Washington, DC United States 20590 -
Authors:
- GARROTT, W R
- Rhea, B
- Subramanian, R
- Heydinger, G J
- Publication Date: 2001-4
Language
- English
Media Info
- Features: Figures; Tables;
- Pagination: 12 p.
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Serial:
- Research Note
- Publisher: National Center for Statistics and Analysis
Subject/Index Terms
- TRT Terms: Crash data; Driving; Rollover crashes; Simulation; Static stability; Vans; Vehicle occupancy; Vehicle safety
- Uncontrolled Terms: Fifteen-passenger vans
- Subject Areas: Highways; Safety and Human Factors; Vehicles and Equipment; I91: Vehicle Design and Safety;
Filing Info
- Accession Number: 00811029
- Record Type: Publication
- Report/Paper Numbers: HS-043 273
- Files: HSL, TRIS, USDOT
- Created Date: May 30 2001 12:00AM