Regulator criticizes SUVs on safety front
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From: KCK
Regulator criticizes SUVs on safety front
http://www.iihs.org/vehicle_ratings/ratings.htm for rollover and safety ratings on today's SUVs
By David Kiley, USA TODAY
DETROIT — The Bush administration's top auto safety regulator joined the growing chorus of sport-utility vehicle bashers Tuesday, saying he wouldn't drive those that scored lowest in government rollover ratings "if they were the last vehicles on earth."
Speaking at an auto industry conference, Jeffrey Runge, administrator of the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, chided automakers for not making SUVs as safe as passenger cars.
He noted that the popular trucks are much more likely to roll over in a single-vehicle accident and called for more work on designs and technologies that will keep them from tipping.
Runge also said NHTSA will propose guidelines this year for side air bags, which are becoming more common, especially in SUVs.
The comments represent his most direct criticism of the auto industry since taking over the agency in August 2001.
Most of his rare public comments have focused on increasing safety belt usage and decreasing drunken driving.
Runge said consumers must research the safety performance of vehicles, especially SUVs. He urged SUV buyers to take time to learn how to drive them and how stability control features, more common on newer models, behave in real-world driving.
"Not all SUVs are created equal, and I would urge people not to just take what salesmen have to tell them about safety features, but to do their own research," he said.
As for himself, Runge said he wouldn't drive an SUV that scored fewer than three stars in NHTSA's five-star rollover rating.
More than 30, or about one-third, of the 2002 SUVs tested by the agency earned just one or two stars, including the top-selling SUV, Ford Explorer, and other popular models such as Chevrolet Tahoe, Toyota 4Runner, Nissan Xterra and Mitsubishi Montero.
Automakers don't like NHTSA's rollover ratings, derived from a mathematical equation based on wheel width and center of gravity.
"We don't agree that the current static stability method is a good one," Ford spokeswoman Sara Tatchio said.
"It doesn't take into consideration stability control technology that greatly affects driving performance."
"NHTSA's current test doesn't factor in enhancements we make to suspensions, tire size and other handling features we put into our vehicles," General Motors spokesman Jim Schell said.
NHTSA is developing a test for rollover tendency based on driving maneuvers done on a track. A final standard for that test is expected this year. Meanwhile, the current rating method "accurately predicts rollover behavior of SUVs in real-world driving," NHTSA spokesman Tim Hurd said.
SUVs have been targeted increasingly by those who dislike their size and gas guzzling, including some religious groups and environmentalists. They have been the subject of negative advertising campaigns and vandalism.
By David Kiley, USA TODAY
DETROIT — The Bush administration's top auto safety regulator joined the growing chorus of sport-utility vehicle bashers Tuesday, saying he wouldn't drive those that scored lowest in government rollover ratings "if they were the last vehicles on earth."
Speaking at an auto industry conference, Jeffrey Runge, administrator of the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, chided automakers for not making SUVs as safe as passenger cars.
He noted that the popular trucks are much more likely to roll over in a single-vehicle accident and called for more work on designs and technologies that will keep them from tipping.
Runge also said NHTSA will propose guidelines this year for side air bags, which are becoming more common, especially in SUVs.
The comments represent his most direct criticism of the auto industry since taking over the agency in August 2001.
Most of his rare public comments have focused on increasing safety belt usage and decreasing drunken driving.
Runge said consumers must research the safety performance of vehicles, especially SUVs. He urged SUV buyers to take time to learn how to drive them and how stability control features, more common on newer models, behave in real-world driving.
"Not all SUVs are created equal, and I would urge people not to just take what salesmen have to tell them about safety features, but to do their own research," he said.
As for himself, Runge said he wouldn't drive an SUV that scored fewer than three stars in NHTSA's five-star rollover rating.
More than 30, or about one-third, of the 2002 SUVs tested by the agency earned just one or two stars, including the top-selling SUV, Ford Explorer, and other popular models such as Chevrolet Tahoe, Toyota 4Runner, Nissan Xterra and Mitsubishi Montero.
Automakers don't like NHTSA's rollover ratings, derived from a mathematical equation based on wheel width and center of gravity.
"We don't agree that the current static stability method is a good one," Ford spokeswoman Sara Tatchio said.
"It doesn't take into consideration stability control technology that greatly affects driving performance."
"NHTSA's current test doesn't factor in enhancements we make to suspensions, tire size and other handling features we put into our vehicles," General Motors spokesman Jim Schell said.
NHTSA is developing a test for rollover tendency based on driving maneuvers done on a track. A final standard for that test is expected this year. Meanwhile, the current rating method "accurately predicts rollover behavior of SUVs in real-world driving," NHTSA spokesman Tim Hurd said.
SUVs have been targeted increasingly by those who dislike their size and gas guzzling, including some religious groups and environmentalists. They have been the subject of negative advertising campaigns and vandalism.
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From: KCK
Regulator Reaffirms Focus on S.U.V.'s
By THE NEW YORK TIMES
DEARBORN, Mich., Jan. 14 — The Bush administration's chief traffic safety regulator reaffirmed today that regulating sport utility vehicles would be a top priority.
Dr. Jeffrey Runge, the top administrator of the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, has said that studying the compatibility of S.U.V.'s and pickups with passenger cars in collisions is a chief focus of his agency, as well as coming up with an improved test to determine how prone vehicles are to rollovers.
Fatalities in single vehicle rollovers increased 22.3 percent from 2000 to 2001 and now account for 8,400 fatalities, Dr. Runge said in a speech today at an auto industry conference here. The largest increase comes from pickup trucks, a segment of the market that is growing in popularity. The fatality rate because of rollovers in S.U.V.'s is three times higher than for passenger cars, he said.
"The increasing problem with vehicle rollovers has moved this issue to the small group of top agency priorities," he said.
S.U.V.'s and pickups are more prone to rollover because they have higher centers of gravity.
Asked about the safety of S.U.V.'s, he said: "I would not put an inexperienced driver in a vehicle that is rollover prone. Having said that, not all S.U.V.'s are created equal.
DEARBORN, Mich., Jan. 14 — The Bush administration's chief traffic safety regulator reaffirmed today that regulating sport utility vehicles would be a top priority.
Dr. Jeffrey Runge, the top administrator of the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, has said that studying the compatibility of S.U.V.'s and pickups with passenger cars in collisions is a chief focus of his agency, as well as coming up with an improved test to determine how prone vehicles are to rollovers.
Fatalities in single vehicle rollovers increased 22.3 percent from 2000 to 2001 and now account for 8,400 fatalities, Dr. Runge said in a speech today at an auto industry conference here. The largest increase comes from pickup trucks, a segment of the market that is growing in popularity. The fatality rate because of rollovers in S.U.V.'s is three times higher than for passenger cars, he said.
"The increasing problem with vehicle rollovers has moved this issue to the small group of top agency priorities," he said.
S.U.V.'s and pickups are more prone to rollover because they have higher centers of gravity.
Asked about the safety of S.U.V.'s, he said: "I would not put an inexperienced driver in a vehicle that is rollover prone. Having said that, not all S.U.V.'s are created equal.
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From: KCK
Runge: Consumers can send message by avoiding vehicles
SUV rollover facts
The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration is finalizing rollover crash tests this year. Here are rollover facts:
Deaths in all rollover crashes in 2000: 9,882
Deaths in single-vehicle rollover crashes in 2000: 8,146
Percentage of people killed in rollovers not wearing seat belts: 78%
Percentage of SUV deaths linked to rollovers: 51%
Percentage of pickup deaths linked to rollovers: 34%
Percentage of car deaths linked to rollovers: 19%
Sources: NHTSA, Insurance Institute for Highway Safety
By Jeff Plungis and Mark Truby / The Detroit NewsDETROIT -- The federal government's top auto safety regulator singled out rollover-prone sport utility vehicles as a major safety issue Tuesday, putting more pressure on a vehicle segment that has been driving the profits of Detroit's automakers.
After speaking at the Automotive News World Congress in Dearborn, NHTSA administrator Dr. Jeffrey Runge said American consumers can send a message to automakers by avoiding vehicles that are more likely to roll over.
"What I am hoping will happen is that the American public will exercise its buying choices," Runge said. "This is a market economy where the consumer always wins. We cannot regulate ourselves out of this mess."
In that vein, Runge said the federal government could change fuel-economy standards starting in 2008 to encourage automakers to build more large sedans, which he said are safer than SUVs.
Current fuel standards -- known as "corporate average fuel economy," or CAFE -- encourage automakers to develop SUVs rather than larger cars, Runge said. The rules require that an automaker's fleet of cars average 27.5 miles per gallon, while its SUVs, pickups and minivans must average only 20.7 miles per gallon.
"Large passenger cars and minivans are the safest way to move around large numbers of people," Runge said in his speech. "And yet we have CAFEed large cars out of existence."
Runge's SUV comments follow a new set of television ads that target SUVs for their fuel consumption. The ads, spearheaded by conservativecommentator Arianna Huffington, equate SUV ownership with aiding terrorists.
The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration began issuing star ratings based on vehicles' center of gravity in January 2001. Cars and trucks with a higher center of gravity are more prone to roll over and receive fewer stars. For the 2002 model year, 31 of the 95 models NHTSA rated earned two stars or less on a five-star scale.
"I wouldn't buy my kid a two-star rollover vehicle if it was the last one on earth," said Runge, a former emergency room physician from Charlotte, N.C. "My daughter drives a sedan. I drive a large sedan that is over 3,000 pounds. And my wife drives a station wagon. That's my family's choice because we are educated about injury risk and risk of death."
NHTSA is set to finalize a dynamic rollover crash test later this year. NHTSA will publicize the test results as part of a consumer information program. The rollover test will rate cars and trucks on a five-star scale, with five stars given to the safest vehicles.
Congress gave NHTSA a Nov. 1, 2002, deadline to come up with the test in a law passed in October 2000, following the Firestone tire recall. Runge acknowledged the agency has missed its deadline, but he promised the final regulation would be out "soon."
Runge said "the numbers are out of whack" with regard to rollover-related deaths and injuries. In 2000, 9,882 people died in rollover crashes, according to Department of Transportation statistics. Of those, 8,146 were killed in single-vehicle crashes. Runge said the rollover death rate was three times higher in SUVs than in cars.
Runge's points on SUV rollover problems are backed up by research from the Insurance Institute of Highway Safety. According to the institute, 51 percent of SUV deaths occurred in single-vehicle rollover crashes in 2000, compared with 34 percent in pickup trucks and 19 percent in cars.
"Many consumers have a misperception that they are safer in an SUV than a passenger car, when in fact, in vehicles of similar weight, it's the other way around," institute spokesman Russ Rader said. "The reason is rollover."
The disparity is even greater in different weight classes. The rollover death rate in small SUVs is more than six times higher than in large cars, Rader said. There were 114 rollover deaths per million registered small SUVs in 2000, compared to 18 rollover deaths per million large cars.
Runge said the rollover question is more complicated than measuring the vehicle's center of gravity, as NHTSA's initial rollover ratings did. NHTSA's dynamic test will also test track width, electronic stability control, the choice of tires, suspension and brakes.
The auto industry criticized NHTSA's release of center-of-gravity ratings, arguing that the mathematical formula the agency used ignored real-life benefits, like good handling, that could help drivers avoid a rollover.
Runge also said the agency would step up efforts to get SUV and pickup drivers to fasten their seat belts, since they were less likely than drivers of other vehicles to buckle up.
Tuesday was not the first time the auto safety chief has taken on SUVs. Last year, in listing the priorities of his term at NHTSA, Runge cited the dangers SUVs present to the occupants of cars in two-vehicle crashes.
The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration is finalizing rollover crash tests this year. Here are rollover facts:
Deaths in all rollover crashes in 2000: 9,882
Deaths in single-vehicle rollover crashes in 2000: 8,146
Percentage of people killed in rollovers not wearing seat belts: 78%
Percentage of SUV deaths linked to rollovers: 51%
Percentage of pickup deaths linked to rollovers: 34%
Percentage of car deaths linked to rollovers: 19%
Sources: NHTSA, Insurance Institute for Highway Safety
By Jeff Plungis and Mark Truby / The Detroit NewsDETROIT -- The federal government's top auto safety regulator singled out rollover-prone sport utility vehicles as a major safety issue Tuesday, putting more pressure on a vehicle segment that has been driving the profits of Detroit's automakers.
After speaking at the Automotive News World Congress in Dearborn, NHTSA administrator Dr. Jeffrey Runge said American consumers can send a message to automakers by avoiding vehicles that are more likely to roll over.
"What I am hoping will happen is that the American public will exercise its buying choices," Runge said. "This is a market economy where the consumer always wins. We cannot regulate ourselves out of this mess."
In that vein, Runge said the federal government could change fuel-economy standards starting in 2008 to encourage automakers to build more large sedans, which he said are safer than SUVs.
Current fuel standards -- known as "corporate average fuel economy," or CAFE -- encourage automakers to develop SUVs rather than larger cars, Runge said. The rules require that an automaker's fleet of cars average 27.5 miles per gallon, while its SUVs, pickups and minivans must average only 20.7 miles per gallon.
"Large passenger cars and minivans are the safest way to move around large numbers of people," Runge said in his speech. "And yet we have CAFEed large cars out of existence."
Runge's SUV comments follow a new set of television ads that target SUVs for their fuel consumption. The ads, spearheaded by conservativecommentator Arianna Huffington, equate SUV ownership with aiding terrorists.
The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration began issuing star ratings based on vehicles' center of gravity in January 2001. Cars and trucks with a higher center of gravity are more prone to roll over and receive fewer stars. For the 2002 model year, 31 of the 95 models NHTSA rated earned two stars or less on a five-star scale.
"I wouldn't buy my kid a two-star rollover vehicle if it was the last one on earth," said Runge, a former emergency room physician from Charlotte, N.C. "My daughter drives a sedan. I drive a large sedan that is over 3,000 pounds. And my wife drives a station wagon. That's my family's choice because we are educated about injury risk and risk of death."
NHTSA is set to finalize a dynamic rollover crash test later this year. NHTSA will publicize the test results as part of a consumer information program. The rollover test will rate cars and trucks on a five-star scale, with five stars given to the safest vehicles.
Congress gave NHTSA a Nov. 1, 2002, deadline to come up with the test in a law passed in October 2000, following the Firestone tire recall. Runge acknowledged the agency has missed its deadline, but he promised the final regulation would be out "soon."
Runge said "the numbers are out of whack" with regard to rollover-related deaths and injuries. In 2000, 9,882 people died in rollover crashes, according to Department of Transportation statistics. Of those, 8,146 were killed in single-vehicle crashes. Runge said the rollover death rate was three times higher in SUVs than in cars.
Runge's points on SUV rollover problems are backed up by research from the Insurance Institute of Highway Safety. According to the institute, 51 percent of SUV deaths occurred in single-vehicle rollover crashes in 2000, compared with 34 percent in pickup trucks and 19 percent in cars.
"Many consumers have a misperception that they are safer in an SUV than a passenger car, when in fact, in vehicles of similar weight, it's the other way around," institute spokesman Russ Rader said. "The reason is rollover."
The disparity is even greater in different weight classes. The rollover death rate in small SUVs is more than six times higher than in large cars, Rader said. There were 114 rollover deaths per million registered small SUVs in 2000, compared to 18 rollover deaths per million large cars.
Runge said the rollover question is more complicated than measuring the vehicle's center of gravity, as NHTSA's initial rollover ratings did. NHTSA's dynamic test will also test track width, electronic stability control, the choice of tires, suspension and brakes.
The auto industry criticized NHTSA's release of center-of-gravity ratings, arguing that the mathematical formula the agency used ignored real-life benefits, like good handling, that could help drivers avoid a rollover.
Runge also said the agency would step up efforts to get SUV and pickup drivers to fasten their seat belts, since they were less likely than drivers of other vehicles to buckle up.
Tuesday was not the first time the auto safety chief has taken on SUVs. Last year, in listing the priorities of his term at NHTSA, Runge cited the dangers SUVs present to the occupants of cars in two-vehicle crashes.
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From: KCK
Automakers stand behind safety of SUVs
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.
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.
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Originally posted by rb6teg
Of course the big three defended their SUVS, that's the only thing that turns a profit anymore......If they lose sales on their SUVS (bad press), they won't be around anymore.
Of course the big three defended their SUVS, that's the only thing that turns a profit anymore......If they lose sales on their SUVS (bad press), they won't be around anymore.
Although if you look at Acura's division over the past three months, MDX sales are keeping them afloat.
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From: Southern NH
Originally posted by yianni64
From what I understand, Ford makes 15k profit on a Navigator. That's frickin nuts. But when they loose thousands and each car sold, they gotta do something.
From what I understand, Ford makes 15k profit on a Navigator. That's frickin nuts. But when they loose thousands and each car sold, they gotta do something.
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From: KCK
teh explorer used to be its cash cow for years but as competition and all the people killed b/c of its poor suspension it has fallen...for ford to keep the explorer with sales anywhere near they were before they are now offering $5k rebates & 0 % financing