The switch for a maglev vehicle should be designed such that the vehicle safely changes its track without touching the guiderail. In particular, a medium-to-low-speed EMS -type maglev train relies heavily on a U-type electromagnet where it generates levitation force and guidance force simultaneously. Therefore, it is necessary to evaluate the safety of the vehicle whenever it passes the switch, as it lacks active control of the guidance force. Furthermore, when the vehicle passes a segmented switch, which is a group of curves made up of connected lines with a small radius of curvature, it may come into mechanical contact with the guiderail owing to the excessive lateral displacement of the electromagnet. The goal of this study is to analyze the influence of a segmented switch on the safety of major design-related variables for achieving improved running safety. We propose a three-dimensional multibody dynamics model composed of two cars with one body. Using the proposed model, we perform a simulation of the lateral air gap, which is one of the measurements of the running safety of the vehicle when it passes the switch. The analyzed design variables are the length between short span girder, the articulation angle, the length between two centers of a fixed girder at its ends, and the number of girders. On the basis of the effects of the considered design variables, we establish an optimized design of a switch with improved safety.