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Should You Buy A Sports Utility Vehicle?Ronald Porep, Republished from SafetyIssues.com Vol 2 Issue 15 Feb 2003 |
Volume 4 Issue 43June 2005 |
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Should you buy a sports utility vehicle
(SUV)? While car manufacturers did not set out to create a vehicle to injure or kill its drivers, SUVs have problems that should you know about to help you decide whether to buy an SUV. The choice, of course, is yours. Here is what you should know before you buy. Sport utility vehicles are more than three times more likely to roll over in a crash than normal passenger cars. The higher roll-over propensity may also lead to higher fatalities. Why? |
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SUVs are heavier and ride higher than
regular cars which creates a tendency for SUVs to roll over in
accidents.
According to the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA), SUVs rollover in 37 percent of fatal crashes, compared to a 15 percent rollover rate for passenger cars. Rollover crashes accounted for 53 percent of all SUV occupant deaths in single vehicle crashes in 1996. Only 19 percent of occupant fatalities in passenger cars occurred in similar crashes. Further, it seems that the smaller the SUV, the more the car has a tendency to roll over. NHTSA tests show that smaller SUVs - with a wheelbase of less than 100 inches - have a disproportionately high incidence of fatal rollover crashes. Small SUVs are involved in rollover crashes more than four times as often as the average passenger car. This means to you – the car buyer – that if you decide to buy an SUV, you should buy a larger one to be safer. Unfortunately, safety is a relative characteristic of SUVs. Since 1988, Consumers Union tried to get the NHTSA, to investigate certain SUV models and issue rollover standards for cars and SUVs. When the NHTSA investigated, the agency soon abandoned efforts to make a universal rollover standard concluding that such a standard would require a redesign of nearly all SUVs, vans and pick-up trucks. NHTSA reasoned that the cost for this redesign would be too high. So, even the NHTSA has concluded that SUVs are not as safe as they should be. |
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Technical tests of certain SUVs agree with the
NHTSA. Technical
Services, a forensic engineering firm, has published a short case
study of the Ford Bronco II's rollover problems on its website. Technical Services writes: "The Bronco II has a 'handling' problem like many other of the small sport utility vehicles. It does friction rollovers on the highway. A friction rollover occurs when the cornering forces - tire friction forces - generated by the driver's steering input becomes high enough to cause the vehicle to rotate around its longitudinal axis and lift the tires off the ground. Most passenger vehicles cannot rollover in this way, although they can rollover as a result of wheel trip when the sliding wheel is blocked by a curb or some other impediment." |
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Which you would think would violate car safety
standards? The catch is SUVs do not have to meet the same safety standards as passenger cars. The double standard exists due to arcane federal rules classifying SUVs as light trucks. Less rigid rules mean occupants of SUVs are not protected by the side-impact crash safety standards or strength requirements for bumpers required on standard passenger cars. That double standard can make most SUVs real killers. The Insurance Institute for Highway Safety, a research organization for the insurance industry, has conducted crash tests of SUVs. The results were mixed, at best. None of the 13 SUVs tested was rated "good." Five SUVs were rated as "acceptable," three as "marginal," and five as "poor." Popular models including the Jeep Grand Cherokee and Nissan Pathfinder earned "marginal" ratings. "Poor" ratings went to models such as the Chevy Blazer, GMC Jimmy and the Isuzu Rodeo. The tests measured how well head restraints and bumpers performed and damage to the vehicle's structure. |
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According to another Insurance Institute for
Highway Safety study, the largest SUVs had fewer driver deaths than
average. However mid-sized and smaller SUVs - like the Nissan Pathfinder,
Suzuki Sidekick, and Jeep Wrangler - had driver death rates substantially
higher than average. In examining deaths per million passengers, SUVs had
nearly the same death rates in accidents as small cars, but substantially
more fatalities than mid-sized or large cars. That means SUVs are far from
the safest motor vehicles on the road. In crashes with even smaller cars, SUVs are one of the deadlier cars on the road. It is natural to think that SUVs would cause more damage in accidents, because they tend to be heavier than other cars. However, the danger from SUVs appears to be caused by more than just their weight. The basic design of SUVs is deadly. |
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| On the average, light trucks and SUVs are designed to ride eight inches higher than a car. SUVs also have a more rigid frame - usually consisting of two steel rails. Most cars only use one rail. These two design factors greatly increase the damage caused in a crash with a passenger car – making SUVs deadlier both to those in SUVs and those in cars which crash into SUVs. | |
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In March 1999 NHTSA examined the design of
many popular SUVs and found that the height and frames of SUVs make them
extra lethal to people riding in smaller vehicles. The differences in
vehicle weight did not account for the extra risk as SUV manufacturers
claim. The NHTSA study concludes that 2,000 people would have survived if their vehicles had been hit by a heavy car instead of a heavy SUV. The study declares that light trucks and SUVs are twice as likely to cause a fatality in the struck car than a passenger car of comparable weight. SUV manufacturers have said they will correct this problem but critics claim the correction – the addition of a front beam and rear tow hitch on the Ford Excursion in one case – is even deadlier. A design deadlier than just in crashes. |
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On SUVs, the placement of headlights is a
serious nuisance and a potential safety problem. On large SUVs, the
headlights are mounted higher than on cars. Large SUVs have headlights
mounted 36 to 39 inches above the ground - the same height as the side
mirror on a small car. The glare from SUVs' headlights can appear to other
drivers as bright as high beams. Glare can be 10 to 20 times worse than
recommended levels when headlights are at the height of a driver's eyes or
side mirror, according to a study by the
Society of Automotive
Engineers. Faults that make SUVs potential killers on the road which, according to SUV makers, is what car buyers want. True? In March 1998, the Independent Insurance Agents of America (IIAA) conducted a poll which found that nearly 80% of car and SUV owners feel "very strongly" or "somewhat strongly" that automakers should make safety changes to SUVs and other light trucks that would reduce risk to car occupants. This overwhelming majority points to a growing concern among the public that SUVs and cars have a hard time coexisting on the roads. Concern you should share if you are planning to buy an SUV. Buying an SUV is your choice. But, is putting your life and money down on a SUV a safe choice? |
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