The truth about RV crash testing

By Dave Solberg
For more than 30 years, I’ve fielded questions about RV crash testing. It recently came up again. My experience with Winnebago Industries involved extensive debates on this issue.

At the time, only motorized vehicles with a Gross Vehicle Weight Rating (GVWR) of 10,000 pounds or less were required to undergo crash testing by NHTSA (National Traffic Highway Safety Administration) and IIHS (Insurance Institute for Highway Safety). Trailers were exempt because they were not intended to have occupants. Crash tests focused on reducing occupant injuries and fatalities.

When working with the RV Safety & Education Foundation (RVSEF), I learned that motorized RVs between 10,000 and 25,000 pounds GVWR were essentially ignored by NHTSA, DOT (Department of Transportation) and IIHS. Those with more than 25,000 pounds GVWR were treated as “buses” and required roof crush tests.

Crash testing for units under 10,000 pounds

According to the Executive Director of RVSEF, there have been updates, including side-impact tests, for motor vehicles under 10,000 pounds GVWR. So let’s look at the various motorized products that would fall under the 10,000-pound threshold.

The Ram “ProMaster” van has a GVWR of 8,900 and 9,350 pounds. The Mercedes Benz 2.0L van has a GVWR of 9,050 pounds on the 2500 model; the 3500 is 9,990; the 3500XD is 11,030; and the 4500 is 12,125. These are all 2025 specifications.

The Ford Transit T-350 Long is 9,250–9,550 pounds, while the T-350 Long is 10,360. All of the cutaway chassis that I could find had a GVWR of 11,300 pounds.

That means that the Ram and smaller Mercedes and Ford “vans” are required to be crash-tested, according to NHTSA and IIHS certification. This is required as the shell vans are used for a wide variety of applications from commercial to passenger buses. However, it’s important to note that the crash testing is performed on the shell van. None of the RV manufacturers are required to perform a crash test after interior furnishings are installed.

Why the different gross vehicle weight ratings?

Since these vans and cutaway chassis are used in a wide variety of applications, there are several reasons for different weight ratings. For commercial applications, anything more than 10,000 pounds GVWR requires DOT certification. That means log books, DOT physicals for drivers, and stopping at weight scales. Additional DOT restrictions are for things like driving limitations such as a maximum of 11 hours a day and not more than a limited number of hours per week. That is why the Mercedes has a GVWR of 9,990 pounds.

Other specifications are listed to get by the crash testing and provide more weight-carrying capacity. Check out some of the Class B units and you will find they only have a cargo-carrying capacity of 600 pounds… and that includes passengers!

How do RV manufacturers crash test RVs?

Over the years, Winnebago Industries has performed drop tests periodically when a new model or design was developed. It proudly promoted that in advertising and brochures.

I was present at two of the crash tests while working there. They were quite impressive. They took a line unit, turned it upside down, lifted it with a crane, and dropped it from four feet. All the doors had to be functioning, all appliances and cabinets secured, and egress windows functioning.

They did not drop test a unit for many years. Rather, they relied on computer analysis for structural integrity, the test track, and the test lab with vibration simulation and other testing procedures.

This all sounds good in theory. However, after I left and formed my own video production company, they asked me to videotape a drop test on the new “D” model being designed. It had cutting-edge technology with no interior framework in the walls and roof, but rather a sandwich design of inner and outer steel sheets. It would be a price leader for dealers, but I was told they were not going to drop-test it.

Several months later I was videotaping a unit in a warehouse that was totally destroyed. One of the workers said it was the “D” Series and it was drop-tested but failed miserably. Winnebago did not go forward with that model.

Fast forward to 2015 and Winnebago did perform a drop test on a smaller “Trend” Class C with the Mercedes cutaway chassis.

It was an impressive test and not required by law. The ironic part is quite a few comments were negative, most calling it “a waste of money.” Someone else said, “Good to know if I accidentally drop my rig on its head!”

Does any manufacturer perform an RV crash test?

I do not know of any other RV manufacturer that performs a physical crash test… or much testing at all. According to my contact at RV Safety & Education Foundation, the reason is very much associated with occurrence and cost.

Motorhomes are a small percentage of the passenger vehicles with a lower number of people traveling in them and crash testing is a costly endeavor. So the reasons are most likely cost and benefit. Vehicle deaths are much more associated with exceedingly numerous types of passenger-type vehicles. The cost and time spent for crash testing to reduce injury and fatalities is much more likely spent on those types of vehicles with a much larger number of people in those vehicles. And those vehicles are more vulnerable than larger vehicles when impacts occur. Just some thoughts to consider. NHTSA or IIHS would be the places to seek a more concrete answer since they are the ones that do the testing.

That leaves a handful of the B vans that actually get crash-tested by the original manufacturer in the shell stage, not the finished product.

Due to the roller coaster market of the RV industry, nobody will invest in a procedure that none of the other manufacturers perform, and for the most part would not pass even the slightest structural testing.

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DAVE HAS ANSWERED MORE THAN 1,000 readers’ maintenance and repair questions. Read a directory here. There is so much to learn!

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