in a head on collision between a kombi and a late 70's Volvo stationwagen, in which car would the front seat occupants suffer least injuries?

Possible trick question! I really depends on what generation Kombi you mean.

Gen 1 Kombi ('50-'67) - no question. The Volvo wins - it would wreck the poor splittie and you would be in serious hurt.

Gen 2 Kombi ('68-79) - probably a draw. More stongly built that previous Kombi and have double element front bumper. They also have 'Y' front chassis members, pre-dating the shitbox Tarago by decades. But those Volvos are tanks.

Gen 3 Kombi ('80-91) - the Kombi wins! They were expressly designed to exceed all front crash parameter requirements. Club Veedub has a factory video of such a crash test in the members' library - it makes interesting watching. You immediately want to go out and buy a Kombi.

Gen 4 Kombi (-92-present) - dunno really but at least as good as Gen 3 I'm sure.

actualy im talking a series2 kombi. and the kombi wins by a mile. in the test, the kombi, thanks to its ride height, on impact rides up and over the nose of the volvo, coming to rest in the windscreen.

concl.
volvo driver - stuffed
kombi driver - a little bruised but walks away.

Great news that.

It was a Volvo driver who wrote off my Beetle, so I hate them.

Yes, safety in a Kombi has always been a concern for me after having stripped my '77 bus. If I hit anything from the bumper line down from the front, not a problem, very strong, but anything above that and yer a goner mate!
That's why all the crash tests I've seen of 69-79 kombi's is a crash where the bumper takes the full brunt. Unfortunately in reality it doesn't always happen that way.
Andy.
:jesus

This is an argument against lowering kombies
M