housestuff

The picture above is from a recent Miami bus crash into a low ovehead at what the driver said was 20mph. Looks pretty simalar to what you are thinking about putting your kids in hey? Keep in mind that buses are built with a frame and cage system unlike motor homes who have basically none and are mostly pressed wood and fiberglass glued together. Most buses have seat belts in them that passengers usually choose not to use and here's the result of a vehicle designed to move passengers with front facing high back seats. I asked my sales staff at the motor home center and they never even knew what the vehicle height was of the home I was looking at so how am I supposed to know what it will go under to avoid this type of thing. I've seen many crashes of all vehicles in my millions of miles on the roads of this country as a semi driver and can honestly say that there is no way I will put my family or anyone I even slightly like into a motorhome going down the road. These things are out there as a direct result of big business and their political lobbies allowing them to produce substandard products for high profit. They can be made resonably safe but they choose not to do it and convince buyers that bigger is better just as in SUV's where they try to convince you that you have the upper hand in a crash because of size. I beg to differ and can tell you first hand that weight and size are your enemy in a sudden stop or roll over from any speed. Just ask the 2 dead, 2 critical and 10 injured in this low speed stop in a vehicle made for moving people. Think about it before you put the people you love in one. I wouldn't want to be the driver who survived after this happening to my family.

Let's put it this way, with the flying objects inside in a crash and the lack of any frame mounted belting in a front facing seat for anyone other than the driver and passenger these things are a rolling coffin for anyone else in the motor home going down the road. If it were legal you would be safer having your loved ones belted in your towed vehicle. I just went through this in an almost purchase of one of these death traps and decided that if I want to see the country I will do it from a nice new pickup with airbags and proper seatbelts pulling a fifth wheel. Nobody's life is more precious to me than that of my children and grandchildrens. Here's another thought, even if the couch or chair in the vehicle has belts, what are they mounted to? Yes that's right most likely the wooden floor of the slide or the frame of the slide wall, in either case these items are subject to failure in a crash. Then again think about sitting sideways in a crash, have you ever seen any vehicle testing for a crash in a vehicle while sitting sideways? For the price of these things they should be more than just a pretty thing to look at, right?