Government: Tires improperly inflated in large passenger vans

Thursday, May 26th 2005, 2:25 pm

By: News On 6

WASHINGTON (AP) _ About three-quarters of all 15-passenger vans had at least one tire that was improperly inflated, increasing the likelihood of rollovers among the vehicles popular with church groups, sports teams and commuters, federal regulators said Thursday.

With many of the vans expected to be used for summer outings, the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration urged drivers and passengers in the vehicles to wear seat belts and vigilantly check tire pressure to help avoid rollovers and other accidents.

``The vans are convenient, but drivers and passengers have to use extra caution,'' said NHTSA administrator Jeffrey Runge. ``The risks associated with 15-passenger vans can be minimized if users take some basic safety precautions.''

Routine checks of the tires, including tire pressure, should be at the top of the list, he said.

An agency research report found that 74 percent of the large vans had a tire that was either underinflated or overinflated by 25 percent or more. In comparison, about 40 percent of passengers cars had an improperly inflated tire.

NHTSA has tried to raise safety awareness in the large vans in recent years following some deadly accidents.

Past research by the agency has found that when the vans have 10 or more passengers, they have a rollover rate that is nearly three times higher than when they have fewer than five occupants.

Seat belt use can be critical to surviving a rollover in the large vans. The agency said between 1990 and 2003, nearly 80 percent of those who died in rollovers in the 15-passenger vans were unbuckled. In contrast, 91 percent of those wearing seat belts in fatal, single-vehicle rollovers in the vans survived.

General Motors Corp. implemented stability control as a standard feature on its 15-passenger vans in the 2004 model year, and put the systems on 12-passenger vans in the 2005 model year.

Ford Motor Co. has announced plans to put stability control on its 15-passenger vans in the 2006 model year.