The Myth of SUV Safety

I believe many people own and drive SUVs because they believe they are safer. I think that is especially likely to be the case when I see a woman driving a very large SUV. (If she's the sole occupant of the vehicle, as often is the case, I think she's not driving such a vehicle for its carrying capacity in persons or cargo.)

I believe that large SUVs in particular contribute to global warming because more fuel consumed = more greenhouse gases emitted out the tailpipe. But I'll focus here on safety.

A driver who believes that four-wheel drive is necessary—perhaps for driving in snow—should be aware that now many sedans are available with four-wheel drive. Second, I recently learned that four-wheel drive confers an advantage of better adhesion only when traveling in a straight line. It is no help in cornering.

Further, SUVs actually have a safety disadvantage because they are top-heavy and thus more likely to overturn. Twice within two or three days the TV news has shown a picture of an SUV lying on its roof after an accident (this may be coincidental—I don't want to imply otherwise—but they were Jeeps in both cases). Anyone who pays attention to TV news coverage of auto accidents has seen enough photos of SUVs which skidded off the road because of a winter storm or after an accident, and ended up lying in a ditch or lying on their roofs, to be disabused of the idea that they are safer than other types of vehicles.

Update, April 5, 2013. This morning there was an accident in Chicago where a school bus hit one or more other vehicles. One was a Jeep Wrangler, of which the driver was killed. Another Jeep vehicle was involved and I am not certain how the occupants of that vehicle fared.

Update, May 5, 2013. Again today--for the umpteenth time, it would seem--the news included a story of an accident in which an SUV suffered a tire blow-out and overturned. The driver was ejected and killed. Three passengers in the vehicle were injured but not killed.

Copyright © 2013 by Richard Stein