Chevy & GMC Vans

ihatemybike wrote:Of the times my vans have be hit the van has always came out the better of the two vehicles. Seems these things are actually tougher than most other things on the road.

My thoughts exactly. I have seen a lot of accidents in the wreckers and the M-bodies impress me. BUT there is no denying what the truth states in the original post. Although as well I do not plan on ramming a FIXED concrete block no more. Did that once and that was one time enough!!!

In 2007 I rear ended an 05 Impala with my 96 Astro at 35mph. I got a used bumper support for it, glued the grill back together (all peices were there), tweaked the hood, as bad as the bumper cover looked when I took it off it went right back to shape didn't even crack. Air bags didn't go off. Did $6,000 in damage to the Impala, (they brought it to the dealer I work at) bent the unibody, folded up like an accordion. For 50 bucks you couldn't tell I ever hit anything.

I feel very safe in my Astro, only thing that bothers me is being t-boned and rolled over. You will have that with any van though.

By the way that crash is not straight head on. It's offset so it's only hitting the left side. So that would be the equivalent of maybe hitting a light pole or being clipped in the front by a drunk driver or something. I just thought it was interesting how easy the van folds. Everything i've looked at the front end folds but it stops there. But every accident is different none of them probably replicate that one

I remember we had this conversation on the old board and someone posted up a link to a guy's website about the head on he and his family got in in his astro...... IIRC and I'm probably wrong but his name was mike..... IIRC he had a knee injury and his wife in the pass seat had a broken leg and severe burns from the heater core. The FD also had to cut her out of the van. His kids got beat up in the back seemingly more than the front passengers. I thought I bookmarked it but can't seem to locate the bookmark.... Because I'm sure there were more injuries. They did get pretty beat up and such but all survived (thank god) and it wasn't a small vehicle that hit them either it was a Ford F350 IIRC. The truck hit the front on a tad bit of angle and went across the front (right?) fender and wheel as they collided.

these pics are from the old forum & are of the worst astro accident that i can remember seeing & both driver & passenger walked away with a few bruises & scratches . if you look at the pics good , i think the van held up very well for being sandwiched loike that .

skippy wrote:these pics are from the old forum & are of the worst astro accident that i can remember seeing & both driver & passenger walked away with a few bruises & scratches . if you look at the pics good , i think the van held up very well for being sandwiched loike that .

Wow, that's the most I've seen an Astro smashed. But looking at that I feel completely safe.

skippy wrote:these pics are from the old forum & are of the worst astro accident that i can remember seeing & both driver & passenger walked away with a few bruises & scratches . if you look at the pics good , i think the van held up very well for being sandwiched loike that .

INSANE.

The one I was talking about there was nothing left of the front end and the engine in the pics on the site was sitting between the 2 front seats.

Still tho INSANE man.

potskie wrote:I remember we had this conversation on the old board and someone posted up a link to a guy's website about the head on he and his family got in in his astro...... IIRC and I'm probably wrong but his name was mike..... IIRC he had a knee injury and his wife in the pass seat had a broken leg and severe burns from the heater core. The FD also had to cut her out of the van. His kids got beat up in the back seemingly more than the front passengers. I thought I bookmarked it but can't seem to locate the bookmark.... Because I'm sure there were more injuries. They did get pretty beat up and such but all survived (thank god) and it wasn't a small vehicle that hit them either it was a Ford F350 IIRC. The truck hit the front on a tad bit of angle and went across the front (right?) fender and wheel as they collided.

That was me that posted it. I'm trying to get the link from the guy who was in the accident. The were hit almost head on/slight side angle by a large cargo truck.

I've read that a 'stro will fold up like that. So, I try not to follow too close and watch for aholes coming the other way.
I think if a head on is inevitable, I'll be pulling up my knees, screw the brakes.

kings-x59 wrote: I think if a head on is inevitable, I'll be pulling up my knees, screw the brakes.

Forget that!! If it's a head-on I'll be kissing my a$$ goodbye!!!

I feel very safe in my Astro. And I drive like an old lady. I try not to pay mind to stuff like this video. If my number's up my number's up. Ya know?

I'm the guy mentioned that got hit. What hit us was a 1995 E350 box truck. Estimated closing speed was 80MPH. I was moderately injured. My youngest son, sitting behind me was slightly injured (mostly traumatized by what he witnessed). My wife who was sitting in the passenger seat snapped her femur and was crushed against the dash - she had to be extricated by the jaws of life. She was knocked out cold for several minutes. My oldest boy, sitting behind her had his face torn open by the shattering window when his head hit it. My middle boy was sitting out back. His face impacted the middle seat. He fractured his skull and his back. He nearly died, but he survived due to many twists of fate which all lined up and allowed him to survive. We were all wearing seatbelts. My middle son most likely put the shoulder portion behind his back which caused it to not work as well as it could have. he nearly paid for this mistake.

I know some folks at Chevy and after our accident, I asked a major fellow to thank the folks who built our truck for building something which had a part in saving our lives. Apparently he did.

I drove into this accident kissing my ass goodbye. I didn't have many options. All I could do was position my van in such a way it decreased the angle at which we hit. He hit us, drove up over my hood and was deflected off to the side whereupon he exploded and burned. I have no idea how he didn't come through my windshield.

I emailed my friend (blazer) earlier because he had asked about it, most likely due to this thread.
The whole story about our ordeal can be seen here:

http://www.nastyz28.com/astro/

Thank you for your post and info.I hope for you and yours that the best outcome long term.

Very glad to see that you and your family made it out of there. Quick question, didn't they dramatically change the Astro in like 99 to help it hold up better in these type of situations?