99' Chrysler Town & Country AWD unsafe back seat?

brownay2 · Aug 15, 2005

We are purchasinga 1999 Chrysler Town and Country AWD minivan Limited. After checking on safecar.org it said that there was a problem with occupants in the back seat, having serious risk of pelvic injury. Is there anything that I could do about the unsafe conditions? There will be a 11 year old, and a 3 year old in the 3rd row, my other son now 18 months, and the new baby in Feb. 2006 will be in the captain chairs.

I am thinking that there are probably so many other unsafe vehicles we could have got stuck with, so hoping that we'll be ok.

Renee Brown

Victorious4 · Aug 15, 2005

Well, kids in carseats are generally much safer.... I'm guessing that the pelvic injury risk is for outboard passengers & since rear-facing carseats are much safer outboard than shoulder belts alone, I'd see about sitting the 11 y.o. in the middle (with an 86-Y E-Z-On since I'm assuming there's no shoulder belt rear-center) next to or between at least 1 of the RF seats: 11 y.o. should be mature enough to help the newborn and/or toddler, yes? Personally, this would also ease my mind as the driver because I'd have to take my eyes away from the road less often.

UlrikeDG · Aug 15, 2005

The page says, "Due to the intrusion of the vehicle structure during the side impact test, the interior panel struck the pelvis of the rear seated dummy, causing a high pelvic acceleration. High pelvic accelerations, in excess of 130 g's, have a higher likelihood of Pelvic fracture." http://www.nhtsa.dot.gov/NCAP/Cars/764.html That's a structural issue, and not something you can fix. Based on that, you may want to consider car seats which offer improved side impact protection, like the Britax Parkway or Bodyguard, Wizard or Boulevard for the children sitting in the outboard positions.

That was before the IIHS instituted its side impact crash tests. However, here are their crash test results for the '99 T&C, as well. http://www.highwaysafety.org/vehicle_ratings/ce/html/96015.htm