The Insurance Institute for Highway Safety (IIHS) recently tested four minivans for protection in small overlap front crashes, and only one vehicle's performance was "acceptable."
The small overlap test replicates what happens when the front corner of a vehicle collides with another vehicle or an object like a tree or utility pole. In the test, 25% of a vehicle's front end on the driver side strikes a rigid barrier while traveling at 40 mph.
According to IIHS, this type of crash bypasses a vehicle's main energy-absorbing structure. Crashes like these are difficult for minivans to handle because they are typically built on car platforms, but are wider than cars -- meaning more of the vehicle is located outside the main structure.
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