Web Posted: 04/23/2005 12:00 AM CDT
San Antonio Express-News

General Motors' new line of minivans that debuted for 2005 got the top safety ratings from their recent testing by the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety.

All four of the new vans — the Chevrolet Uplander, Pontiac Montana, Buick Terraza and Saturn Relay — earned overall "good" ratings in the institute's frontal offset crash test, the highest rating the agency gives.

These vans join the Toyota Sienna, Nissan Quest, Honda Odyssey and Ford Freestar/Mercury Monterey on the institute's list of minivans with "good" ratings.

Vans with midlevel "acceptable" ratings from the institute's tests are the Kia Sedona, Mazda MPV and segment-leading Dodge Grand Caravan/Chrysler Town & Country.

The "good" ratings for the new GM vans is a great improvement over the "poor" rating of their predecessors — the pre-2005 Pontiac Trans Sport/Montana and Chevrolet Venture.
Among small pickups, three 2005 models with extended cabs earned the top safety rating in recent institute testing — the all-new Toyota Tacoma, Nissan Frontier and Chevrolet Colorado/GMC Canyon. Earning "acceptable" ratings were the Dodge Dakota and Ford Ranger.

Although the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration also conducts frontal crash tests, the institute's test is at a higher speed — 40 mph vs. 35 mph for the government test — and is an offset crash, where the left front of the vehicle strikes a barrier. This more closely replicates a real-world frontal crash, such as would occur if part of a vehicle drifted across the highway center line and struck another car.

In the government test, the car's full front hits the barrier at 35 mph.
Based on the results of the 40-mph offset test, the institute gives each vehicle a rating from "good" overall to "poor." In between are "acceptable" and "marginal" ratings.
The best performers are given the institute's "best pick" designation. "Best pick" honors were given only to the Sienna, Odyssey and Freestar/Monterey, based on their receiving "good" ratings in all sub-categories, such as structure/safety cage, head/neck, chest, leg/foot and restraints.

The test results for the Uplander signified a "dramatic improvement compared with earlier minivans from General Motors," the institute said.

"The Uplander (also sold as the Pontiac Montana SV6, Saturn Relay and Buick Terraza) replaces a minivan design that was sold until this year as the Chevrolet Venture and Pontiac Trans Sport/Montana and until 2004 as the Oldsmobile Silhouette. The earlier minivan design was one of the worst-performing vehicles in the institute's frontal crash test."

"When the institute tested the 1997 Pontiac Trans Sport, there was massive collapse of the occupant compartment," said Adrian Lund, the institute's chief operating officer. "Major intrusion into the driver's survival space pushed the steering wheel toward the dummy and violently snapped the dummy's head backward. Deformation of the area near the driver's feet was so great that the dummy's metal foot broke off.

"In contrast, the Uplander performed very well in this test," he added. "The occupant compartment stayed intact, so the driver's survival space was well maintained. The dummy's movement was controlled reasonably well. There were high head accelerations when its head hit the steering wheel through the airbag and then struck the pillar between the doors. This means the Uplander's performance wasn't good enough to earn a 'best pick.' Still, it's a huge improvement compared with GM's previous minivan design."

As for the small pickups, they are "getting better," the institute said.
"The newly tested small pickups all have extended cabs, which have become the norm for this class. None of the previous small pickups with regular cabs earned a 'good' rating in the institute's frontal offset test, but now three small pickup designs earned 'good' ratings based on this test."

Lund said the all of the smaller pickups that have been redesigned recently have earned better safety ratings than their predecessors have.

The Tacoma's rating improved to "good" from "acceptable," and it was the only one to get the "best pick" designation, the institute said.
Frontier's rating moved two notches up — from "marginal" to "good," as did the rating of the Chevrolet Colorado/GMC Canyon, compared with their predecessors, the Chevy S-10/GMC Sonoma, the institute said. The Dakota, which was redesigned for 2005, moved to "acceptable" from "poor."

The Uplander, Montana, Relay and Terraza have been designed to look more like SUVs than traditional minivans, with longer hoods. It could be that the longer hoods — similar to what you would see on a midsize sport utility — have helped increase the vehicles' frontal crashworthiness.

The Relay and Terraza are the first vans in the Saturn and Buick lineups. Buick got the Terraza to replace the Oldsmobile Silhouette, which was d