Where's the public outrage ? Why are SUV's still legal at all?

Question

Do anybody besides me read the article that said that SUV's kill 10,000 + Americans a year due to rollover accidents ,that those 10,000+ deaths represent 1/3 of all US traffic deaths despite the fact that SUV accident represent only 3% of all traffic accidents. That's an 11:1 ratio
Having driven the 3-D roads of the West and seen the deadly handling characteristics of SUV's up close, I have no doubt that many of those fatal accidents were single vehicle accidents caused by the vehicle.
I also have no doubt that many of those rollover accidents and near accidents that didn't result in fatalities scared the crap out of a lot of drivers.
Where is the public outrage ? Where are all the letter to our Congressmen demanding that we get these death machines of our roads NOW!!
Where's Ralph Nader when we actually need him ?
WTF is wrong with us ?
Thanks for what I'm sure will be nice answers

I understand that they're trying to make them safer But if all that after the fact engineering is necessary ,then the original product had to be a deadly piece of junk that should never have been allowed on American roads in the first place.

Answer 1

I drive truck and I see about 15-20 accidents a year and out of these about about all but 4-5 will be suv. I think these vehicles give people a false sense of security when the are actually more dangerous

Answer 2

I tend to agree with you...but from the viewpoint of a retailer, the public gets what the public wants! It is the people buying the SUV's that are driving the market for them. As long as there are people willing to buy them the manufacturers will keep making them regardless of safety concerns. If people are willing to make decisions to buy a vehicle that is more prone to roll overs, then they are buying their own future. If that is what they want, let 'em have it, it's their own choice and I'm not holding a gun to their head. Myself, I have always preferred the handling and performance of a well made car that can out handle any suv on the road (which is by the way where they are made to be driven) and offer luxury and comfort that the guzzlers could only dream about. Now If I were planning an off-road safari in the out back of Australia, I could see fit to purchase accordingly, at that point an SUV would seem a bit more PRACTICAL than on the road. But hey.....It's just my opinion. :)

Answer 3

Its called freedom.

Some people actually need them as well.

Im looking at buying an old Jeep Cherokee or Explorer 4x4-hopefully one of the years that flips easily since theyre cheaper. They flip because people dont realize theyre a top heavy truck basically. Learn to drive your car and you'll be fine. I'll be using mine for taking the family camping-we dont all fit in my economy car with gear, and the dog barely fits in there on his own now. Also the 4x4 feature is essential in the woods around here.

By the logic of more dangerous cars being banned, we'll have to get rid of almost everything made by BMW, a few Nissans (they only updated the Sentra when it became the only car on the road with 2 star safety ratings), the entire Scion line, etc. Face it, no car is safe if youre an idiot. Blame the driver, not the car.

Answer 4

First of all, it's not the vehicle that kills it's the inadequate driver operating it. You might as well ban semi's, they can roll over alot more easily however, most truck driver's know the limits of the machine they are driving. What do you care anyway since you are obviously still breathing and I assume not driving one. What happened to each their own and take responsibility for your own actions. The problem seems that the average idiot gets into one and does not know enough about driving limits with an suv vs a car and they deserve to be rolled over for being careless.

Answer 5

WASHINGTON - Many new sport utility vehicles, equipped with anti-rollover technology, are less of a risk for rollover crashes than their predecessors, the government says. Rollover ratings issued by the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration for 2007 model year vehicles show SUVs making progress over past vehicles. The ratings give consumers information on the likelihood of a rollover, which kill more than 10,000 motorists in the United States every year, more than a third of motorists killed in the country annually, despite accounting for only 3 percent of all crashes.

Seventy-eight 2007 model year SUVs received a four-star rating in the rollover tests, according to an analysis by The Associated Press. More than half of the 2007 SUVs had four-star ratings, compared to 48 of the 2006 SUVs that earned four stars out of 103 SUVs rated. Only one SUV received four stars in 2001.

To guard against rollovers, automakers have increasingly installed electronic stability control into their vehicle lineup. The anti-rollover technology, which was first introduced by Mercedes-Benz in 1995, automatically applies brakes to individual wheels when the vehicle begins skidding off course, helping to steady the vehicle.

Eighty-six percent of 2007 SUVs have stability control as standard equipment, up from 43 percent in 2005, the government reported.

In NHTSA testing, no SUV has earned a top five-star rating. Under the ratings system, a vehicle with five stars has a rollover risk of less than 10 percent. A four-star vehicle has a 10 percent to 20 percent risk and a three-star vehicle has a 20 percent to 30 percent risk.

Newly tested 2007 SUVs receiving the four-star rating include: Infiniti FX35, Mazda CX-7, Ford Edge and Explorer Sport Trac, Hyundai Santa Fe and Veracruz, Jeep Compass, Chevrolet Equinox, Honda CR-V, Volkswagen Touareg, Acura MDX and RDX, Suzuki XL7, and Saturn Outlook.

The 4X4 version of the Kia Sportage and the 4X2 version of the Jeep Wrangler Unlimited also earned four stars. Test results were carried over for vehicles that were unchanged from the previous model year. A full listing can be found at http://www.safercar.gov/.

Federal statistics show some progress in reducing rollover deaths. In 2006, 10,698 motorists were killed in rollovers, a 1.6 percent decline compared to the previous year. The rate of rollover deaths in 2006 per 100,000 registered vehicles was 4.55, a 3.6 percent decline.

In April, the government said electronic stability control would be required in all new vehicles by the 2012 model year, estimating it could save between 5,300 and 9,600 lives a year once it is fully deployed into the nation's fleet.

For pickup trucks, 74 of the vehicles from the 2007 model year earned four stars out of 89 pickups rated. That compares with 53 pickups from the 2006 model year earning four stars out of 71 pickups rated.

Government studies have found stability control reduces single-vehicle sport utility crashes by 67 percent and one-car crashes by 35 percent compared to the same models sold in previous years without the technology.

Answer 6

The only reason why they flip over is because they are Sports Utility Vehicles. They are supposed to carry a relatively big load. If you leave it empty, they flip over easily. They were not intended to be luxury vehicles.

Answer 7

They're dangerous alright, but no politician will ever bring any anti-SUV law unless people stop driving them. They'd lose too many votes.

Answer 8

I own and drive an SUV. If I choose to drive one and can afford it, it's no business of do-gooders like yourself to try to protect me from myself. Nobody is making you drive one so leave me alone.

Here's your "nice answer": They are legal because they serve a purpose. No, I don't use mine to haul a bunch of rugrats to soccer games. My kids are grown. I use mine to tow my boat, which is virtually impossible with anything less than an SUV or a pickup truck.

Answer 9

Cigarette smoking is the single most preventable cause of premature death in the United States. Each year, more than 400,000 Americans die from cigarette smoking. In fact, one in every five deaths in the United States is smoking related. Every year, smoking kills more than 276,000 men and 142,000 women. Why are cigarettes still legal?? Could it be because of M O N E Y>

Answer 10

If they were all visiting your @ss, along with your head.....you'd know....n i c e.......