this post was submitted on 05 Aug 2025
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[โ€“] paultimate14@lemmy.world 7 points 2 days ago (2 children)

My family had one when I was a kid too, and we all loved it. My initial thought here is: is there a way to bring these back safer? Some sort of mechanism or even computer control that requires the seats to be locked in a safe orientation before the van can move, and prevents them from swiveling unless it is parked? Backwards-facing seats might even be safer than front-facing ones for all I know.

But I'm also remind of how big it was. The US already has a problem with too many huge private vehicles on the road. As much as I liked this as a kid, I think today we would see too many single adults driving these things to and from work most of the time. We need to take more cars off the road to make room for these: public transportation, walk ability, cycling infrastructure, smaller cars, etc.

[โ€“] snowsuit2654@lemmy.blahaj.zone 12 points 2 days ago (1 children)

I have a 2003 VW Eurovan Camper with swivel seats and it has exactly that feature. The engine won't start unless the swivel seats are locked in the forward-facing position.

Also available in certain 08+ dodge/Chrysler minivans.

[โ€“] Onomatopoeia@lemmy.cafe 4 points 2 days ago

I'm not sure, but I think vans don't need to pass significant rear passenger safety since they're built on a truck platform.

Though it would be trivial to add a lockout and indicators for those seats, no tech required, just a simple switch at the seat.