Big Vans Get New Safety Equipment
These are also the types of long, tall vehicles that have made news in recent years for rollovers, which is why side curtain airbags are now standard for 2008, along with electronic stability systems with rollover control, and antilock brakes.
However, side curtain airbags are only offered in the first three rows of seats. GM has a three-row system in current vehicles, like the Chevy Suburban, that was easy to borrow for use in the five-row Express and Savana. Coming up with a side curtain system for five rows would have taken extra time to create and test, so GM decided to go with three-row protection for the first three rows now and add a technology it already has access to — called Enhanced Technology Glass — for the back two rows.
The windshield, side and rear windows of all vehicles are made of tempered glass that, in the event of a collision, shatters into thousands of little pieces without sharp edges that would cut and injure occupants. When the glass shatters, it leaves window openings along the sides of the car, but the airbag curtains keep occupants from being ejected and, thus, in even greater risk of death or injury. Both the Express and the Savana vans use tempered glass in the side windows of the first three rows, but the forth and fifth rows now are made of Enhanced Technology Glass. This glass doesn’t shatter, keeping occupants from being ejected in a collision or rollover, thus giving the automaker time to create and test curtains for all five rows in the future. The ETG glass is standard in both vans for 2008.
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Wait a minute, 5 rows Express and Savana including the front two occupants would equally 6 rows. Wouldn’t it be easier to just add 2 three row side curtain airbags on each side and you’ve got everyone covered?
it is five rows counting the first row.
for now it probably would be a good idea to have a two row (like ina sedan) and a three row curtain airbags in the vehicle
What about the 6L80E?
Wow, and the dinosaurs of the automotive world finally recieve an update. These vans date back to what,,,1995?