Sprinter Vans Have A Good Safety Record

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camperAL

camperAL

Well-known member
Joined
Oct 24, 2011
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1,622
Location
Indiana
Greetings,

Found this article (link below) showing that Sprinter Vans have a good safety record and are safety tested. In this article they recommended the Sprinter Vans over A Class RV's.

Looks like there aren't all that many fatalities in RV's to begin with. Also mentioned checking the air in tires (which has been extensively discussed on this forum) which often leads to RV accidents.

The link has a lot of useful information on Sprinter Vans for those who have them here. All my best!

http://www.sprinter-rv.com/2012/08/10/the-safest-sprinter-motorhome/
 
I would take that article with several grains of salt - it tries to make science from very little data.  There is good crash data on actual Sprinter vans, but practically none on Sprinter-based motorhomes. Or any other kind of motorhome, since the NHTSA database does not have much detail about motorhome accidents.  Nor is there a statistically significant number of Sprinter-based motorhome accidents on record, nowhere near enough to make any meaningful conclusions.  Plus, Class B & C motorhomes do not undergo crash testing - just the chassis without the motorhome body. In my opinion it is very questionable whether the crash data still applies once the body is radically altered. The alterations in a B are relatively modest, but a C is built on a cutaway chassis that is very much different.

NHTSA data also shows that larger/heavier vehicles are safer than smaller/lighter ones (larger always wins in one-on-one confrontations).  From that one might conclude that Class A's are probably safer rather than riskier. Which is more right?

I'm not knocking the Sprinter or its motorhome derivatives - it's a pretty good vehicle. It's just the pseudo-science that bothers me.
 
Hi Gary and all,

Thank you for your take on this. The article was written by a sprinter van source and I should have given that more thought. I tend to be more sceptical about claims when reading, until I have several sources. Saw the article and read it and posted it maybe sooner than I should.

One thing, accidents in RV's are not real common and I agree that larger is always better where protection is concerned. Just avoid the blown tires, heavy semi loads and drive defensively and most people will stay out of trouble. There are always freak accidents that you just can't possible see coming.
 
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