7 seat MPV rear safety

Honest John Back Room » Motoring discussion
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Sat 10 Apr 2004 23:55
7 seat MPV rear safety - BobbyG
Apologies if this has been covered before - have done a forum search but no success.

I have just been away on holiday with various relatives who have a Toyota Picnic, Galaxy & Peugeot 806.

With the launch of the new Grand Scenic as well, this prompted me to look at the safety of the rear passengers.

Has anyone any experience of actual rear end accidents with these type of cars? Pictures of Zafiras and Grand Scenic look as if the rear seat is practically touching the bootlid, and your head would not be far from the rear windscreen. I seem to remember Jeremy Clarkson once saying that he would not put his loved ones in the rear crumple zone.

My brother said that they were no closer to the rear of the car than you were in a supermini but I think you are.

Any thoughts?
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Sun 11 Apr 2004 11:51
7 seat MPV rear safety - volvoman
I've just bought an MPV and the rear space between the last row of seats and the tailgate was a major factor primarily for this reason but also to accommodate luggage etc. Quite how safe rear passengers are in a large MPV car as compared to a smaller one, a supermini or an average family car I don't know however. The truth is that we'll use all 7 seats only occasionally but I didn't want my passengers/loved ones sitting right up against the tailgate and hence the likes of the Premacy, Zafira, etc. were ruled out immediately.
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Tue 13 Apr 2004 18:42
7 seat MPV rear safety - Ian from Manchester
I had a Grand Espace (old model) which had acres of space behind the rear seats. Rear seat safety was a major factor in choosing that model over others inc. the standard Espace.

I have just bought a Pug 807 and that has alot of space in the rear. Not as much as the Grand E but not bad and 5 stars safety too. Unlike other MPVs the 807 (and clones) has sliding rear doors and tilting seats so even adults can get in the back row easily. Worth looking at.
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Tue 13 Apr 2004 22:20
7 seat MPV rear safety - volvoman
The Mazda MPV has sliding doors too and very useful they are.
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Tue 13 Apr 2004 23:56
7 seat MPV rear safety - BobbyG
Just checked out the Euro NCAP website - interesting to see that there are no rear end tests done? Only front, side impact, pedestrian and pole tests!
Why no rear tests? Is it because any object running into your rear would theoretically have a crumple zone in it (ie. the front of another car) and therefore hard to simulate, as opposed to the front impact into a solid structure?
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