When we first conceived this blog, there was one topic I wanted to write about more than anything else: the crash impact testing of our handicap vans. Why? Because there has been a lot of misinformation spread around the web, due largely to a video someone posted on YouTube. When I first found this over a year ago, it really made me mad that someone could post a video that, frankly, spreads lies about our company and our products. In this article, I’d like to confront this issue head-on (pun intended!) and hopefully set the record straight.

First, as much as I hate to give it more airtime, lets take a look at the video in question. For whatever reason, whoever posted this put polka music behind it, so you might want to turn down your speakers (or I suppose you can turn them up if you’re into polka!)

There are several untruths that should be addressed, and I could go into long-winded “lawyer speak” to give you the actual circumstances and interpretations of these particular tests from 2002. But the most important thing is this: we have never nor will we ever release a vehicle model to market that has not been successfully crash impact tested.

We have absolutely nothing to hide, and it has always been our priority to produce a safe wheelchair van conversion. Our founder and C.E.O. Ralph Braun wouldn’t have it any other way – after all, he drives one of our wheelchair vans every day! As for myself, if I knew that our company was producing an unsafe vehicle, I’d be looking for work somewhere else. And I know my coworkers feel the same way. For someone to suggest that there is a “industry-wide conspiracy” of some type and we are producing unsafe vans is not only untrue, it’s pure nonsense.

So for the record, posted below are three crash test videos for the 2008 Chrysler wheelchair van. Sorry, none of them have any catchy polka music and they’re not very pretty to look at. But they all met current safety standards for impact performance, and that’s what counts.

I thought a lot about the pitfalls of bringing the “polka video” to more people’s attention on our blog, and after much debate I decided it was better for everybody to see the video and know the truth behind it. After all, it’s out there to stay on YouTube and we can’t do anything about that. Hopefully people who see the video will do their own research and find this article.

In the end, I think the “polka crash test” video says more about the person who posted it than it does about BraunAbility wheelchair vans. I believe whoever did this had an agenda and possibly a score to settle, but that’s just my interpretation. What do you think? Please leave a comment below – I’d really like to hear what you think about this!

Tags: safety, Wheelchair Vans

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