Van
The term van can also sometimes be used interchangeably with what Australians usually call a "caravan", which in the U.S. is referred to as a "travel trailer".
The British term people mover is also used in Australian English to describe a passenger van.
The American usage of "van" which describes a cargo box trailer or semi-trailer is used rarely, if ever, in Australia.
[2] Early Japanese vans include the Kurogane Baby, Mazda Bongo, and the Toyota LiteAce.
The Nissan Prairie and Mitsubishi Chariot as well as microvans that fulfill kei car regulations, are popular for small businesses.
The term is also used to describe full-fledged station wagons (passenger car front sheet metal, flat-folding back seats, windows all around) and even hatchbacks with basic trim packages intended for commercial use.
In British English, the word van refers to vehicles that carry goods only, either on roads or on rails.
The word "van" also refers to railway covered goods wagons, called "boxcars" in the United States.
From that point aft, only the chassis frame rails and running gear extend to the rear when the unit is shipped as an "incomplete vehicle".
A large proportion of cutaway van chassis are equipped with dual rear wheels.
Second-stage manufacturers sometimes add third weight-bearing single wheel "tag axles" for their larger minibus models.
The Ford Falcon-based first-generation Econoline had a flat nose, with the engine mounted between and behind the front seats.
The standard or full size vans appeared with Ford's innovation of moving the engine forward under a short hood and using pickup truck components.
Vans are also used to shuttle people and their luggage between hotels and airports, to transport commuters between parking lots and their places of work, and along established routes as minibusses.
General Motors and the Dodge Ram Van followed with designs with the engines placed further forward, and succeeding generations of the Econoline introduced longer hoods.
A van is taller than a typical passenger car, resulting in a higher center of gravity.
The U.S. National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) has determined that belted passengers are about four times more likely to survive in rollover crashes.
