| Accidents in which a vehicle rolls over are particularly | | | | passenger van is 3 times more likely to roll than a |
| dangerous. The roof may collapse and passengers not | | | | normal sized van. |
| wearing seatbelts may be thrown from the vehicle. | | | | Second, despite using the wheelbase of a standard |
| Thus, it would seem that if a car, truck, or van is | | | | van, 15 passenger van passenger cabins extend far |
| extremely prone to rolling over, it would not be widely | | | | behind the vehicle's rear axle. When people use the |
| used, and production would eventually stop. | | | | rear row of seats, the balance of the vehicle can be |
| Unfortunately, this is not always the case. 15 | | | | thrown towards the rear, particularly if the passengers |
| Passenger vans, which have repeatedly proven to be | | | | are not evenly dispersed throughout the cabin. Under |
| one of the most dangerous types of vehicles on the | | | | these circumstances, if the van must swerve to avoid |
| road, continue to be regularly used by schools, | | | | an obstacle, the back end may swing out and cause |
| daycares, churches, youth organizations, hotels, and | | | | the vehicle to spin, or worse, begin to roll. |
| airports. Many deadly roll-over accidents involving this | | | | In addition to design issues, the fact that 15 passenger |
| type of van have made news for years. | | | | vans are usually driven by individuals with little |
| There are two main design issues that make 15 | | | | experience controlling large vehicles also adds to the |
| passenger vans more likely than other vehicles to roll | | | | danger. Though coaches, choir instructors, band |
| over during an emergency situation. First, they have a | | | | directors, and church group supervisors may be good |
| high center of gravity. This means that most of the | | | | drivers under normal circumstances, there is a good |
| vehicles mass is concentrated high above its | | | | chance they have not been forced to deal with a |
| wheelbase, making it very top-heavy. This effect gets | | | | vehicle as inherently unstable as a 15 passenger van. |
| worse and worse as the van approaches full capacity. | | | | Large vans can react much more violently from tire |
| In the event that the vehicle begins to tip over, the high | | | | blowouts, uneven pavement, or potholes than the |
| center of gravity means that it will continue into a full | | | | vehicles these people are used to driving. |
| roll more easily than a less top-heavy car. A full 15 | | | | |