The 2020 Chrysler Voyager, the latest addition to Chrysler brand’s legendary minivan lineup, has earned a five-star overall safety rating from the U.S. National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA).

Five stars is the highest possible rating awarded by NHTSA. Voyager is the latest Chrysler brand minivan to earn the rating, joining Chrysler Pacifica in the five-star category.

The new minivan’s overall five-star rating was achieved, in part, because it received five-star ratings in a full range of crashworthiness evaluations:

• Front driver-side impact
• Front passenger-side impact
• Overall frontal impact
• Front seat combined barrier and pole side impact
• Rear seat combined barrier and pole side impact
• Driver side barrier impact
• Rear passenger side barrier impact
• Side barrier impact
• Overall side pole impact

The 2020 Chrysler Voyager’s crashworthiness benefits from thoughtful application of steel shaping technologies such as hydroforming, a process that transforms steel tubes by injecting them with fluid at extreme pressures. The result: intricately molded load beams that afford greater strength and stiffness than welded components.

In addition, the new minivan’s door ring is assembled from tailor-welded blanks – sections of hot-stamped steel that vary in thickness. This strategy helps maintain structural integrity in certain crashes.

High-strength steel (HSS) accounts for 72 percent of the new Voyager’s body structure. Its cradle and front rails are made of Advanced High-strength Steel (AHSS) and are configured to help steer crash energy away from the passenger compartment.

Arguably more important, the Voyager also features several available safety and security features to help drivers avoid collisions in the first place. The minivan’s Blind-spot Monitoring system alerts the driver to vehicles entering his/her blind spot.

Such warnings help accommodate safer lane changes.

Meanwhile, an available Rear Cross Path detection system assists the driver with hard-to-see angles when backing out of tight parking spots where field of vision may be hindered.

And the available ParkSense rear park assist with stop detects objects in the path of the Voyager when the vehicle is in reverse. While sensors help the driver maneuver into tight parking spaces, they also prompt automatic braking when the system deems contact is imminent.

NCAP is the government’s premier consumer information program for evaluating vehicle safety performance. The program tests vehicle performance in various crash scenarios and provides an objective rating on a 5-star scale to clearly inform consumers of a vehicle’s safety performance.

Drawing, in part, from the comments and feedback received late last year from a public meeting, NHTSA plans to propose major upgrades to NCAP in 2020. These will involve new technologies, new test procedures, updates to vehicle labeling, advancements in crash-test dummies, and continued consumer research to ensure NCAP’s products are effectively meeting the public’s needs. NHTSA will also consider new technologies tied to the safety of pedestrians and other vulnerable road users such as cyclists.  

NHTSA is working to publish a Federal Register Notice in 2020 that will seek comment on upgrades to NCAP.