of course b/c it is one of the few profitable vehicles they make outside of pickups...from what i've read the big 3 say...they are heavier thus safer (but only when they crash into something smaller) and the drivers are at fault...to me this is a kick in the teeth for these owners who have had rollovers from tire blowouts or those that didn't drive fast but still rolled over when they needed to do an emergency manuever

Trucks defended after regulator's remarks
January 16, 2003

BY JOCELYN PARKER
DETROIT FREE PRESS BUSINESS WRITER

U.S. automakers jumped to the defense of sport-utility vehicles Wednesday, a day after the nation's top regulator questioned the safety of the popular trucks. Sport-utilities, they argued, are among the safest vehicles on the road.

During a speech Tuesday at the Automotive News World Congress in Dearborn, Dr. Jeffrey Runge, head of the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, said that some sport-utility vehicles are unsafe because of their tendency to roll over and that consumers should use caution when purchasing those vehicles.

In a slide presentation, Runge said rollover accidents accounted for 3 percent of all passenger vehicle crashes in 2001, but they caused nearly one-third of all vehicle occupant fatalities that same year. An SUV occupant was also three times more likely to die as a result of a rollover than an occupant in a car, he said.

Automakers, however, lashed out at Runge's remarks, stating that NHTSA's own statistics show that SUVs are just as safe, if not safer, than passenger cars, and that the vast number of fatalities involving sport-utilities could be avoided if drivers used their safety belts.

"According to real-world government crash data, compiled by NHTSA, SUVs are two to three times more protective of their occupants in frontal, rear and side-impact crashes that make up 97.5 percent of all crashes," said Jay Cooney, a General Motors Corp. spokesman.

Automakers contend that sport-utility vehicles, while weaker in rollover crash tests, perform well in side and frontal-impact crash tests, which are far more common than rollover crashes. Frontal-impact accidents, for instance, accounted for 46 percent of the passenger vehicle crashes in 2001, and side-impact accidents accounted for 29 percent, according to NHTSA.

"To say that SUVs are unsafe because it doesn't do well in that test (rollover) ignores the fact that they do better in the crash tests where the situations are more common," said Stuart Schorr, a spokesman for DaimlerChrysler AG.

Cooney also added that the vast majority of those that are killed in rollover crashes, about 72 percent, don't wear seat belts. And during the SUV sales boom of the last 10 to 15 years, the fatality rate on America's roads dropped by more than 50 percent to an all-time low.

Ford Motor Co. places some of the safety burden on the drivers themselves, not only should they wear seat belts, but they should also drive their SUVs more carefully.

"SUV drivers have to understand that it is not a car," said Carolyn Brown, a Ford spokeswoman. "It doesn't handle the way a car handles." Since 1994, Ford has put labels in SUVs to remind consumers to be more cautious when driving them. The automaker also offers many safety features on SUVs to protect occupants, such as traction control and head and side-curtain air bags.

Sport-utility vehicles have become the target of various religious, safety and environmental groups due to their rollover risk and because they consume more gas than passenger cars.