The most valuable thing in your house hold isn't what is in the china cabinet, or what's locked up in the house safe. It's your family loaded up in the family van going out to a movie, or out to dinner. Knowing that many people want to know which is the best van 2012, or who makes the safest minivan. Now the IIHS has some new data to help you figure which minivans for sale are the safest.
The IIHS, or Insurance Institute for Highway Safety are the people you often see crashing and ramming large blocks into cars to see how crash dummies inside fare. Recently they turned their attention to one of the scariest situations in a car crash, the rollover. In order to better rank minivan safety ratings test are performed on the front, rear, side, and roof of a vehicle. And now the results are in.
Of the seven most popular minvans for sale, five have earned the coveted Top Safety Pick. The best 2012 van to be in a rollover is the Honda Odessey with a strength to weight ratio of 5.15. The 2012 Honda Odyssey invoice price starts at $25,445 making it cheaper than the second place finisher, the 2012 Chrysler Town & Country which had a ratio of 4.51 and an invoice price of $28,702.
The 2012 Chrysler Town and Country actually represented three minivans in this test, all of which share the same frame. They are the Dodge Grand Caravan and Volkswagen Routan which also earn IIHS Top Safety Picks. The last top pick to round out the best vans of 2012 was the Toyota Sienna which had a ratio of 4.12.
However two vans fell short of top honors this year, with the Nissan Quest earning Good marks for front, rear, and side impact, but only an Acceptable for rollovers with a ratio of 3.36. The Kia Sedona earned Good marks for everything except rollover for which it received a Poor grade for with a ratio of 2.31. The 2012 Kia Sedona invoice price is below the Toyota Sienna but above the Dodge Grand Caravan making it a particularly disappointing choice for those looking for the safest minivan.