Safety Concerns About SUVs
How many times have you been driving and been cut off by an SUV driver who was totally unaware of your existence? It’s an everyday occurrence for those of us driving small cars. SUV’s, especially the bigger ones, give drivers a sensation of being above everyone else around them (they literally are) and can in fact make it seem like they’re the only ones on the road. It’s a great feeling of liberation and space for the driver of the vehicle, but the risk to those around other people start to increase. Unless they’re taken to the country with off road tires and beadlock wheels, it has to be acknowledged that SUV’s are not a responsible way to drive.
It was during th1980’s when a style of using off-road vehicles to move through the city and suburbs began to rise in popularity. This trend was of course encouraged by the car makers themselves, who advertised the SUV with the notion that it was a much safer choice for families, and a much more stylish choice than purchasing a van.
One commercial, in particular, showed the American way of considering SUV’s. The ad showed images of a normal sedan and an SUV crashing into each other. The SUV finished the crash relatively in one piece, while the other car was completely demolished. Then the commercial asked something in the nature of, “If you care about your family, shouldn’t you get an SUV?” The ad created sales of larger vehicles to skyrocket, as parents began to see SUV’s as the wiser choice for driving out on the street. But you might have noted in the above description what so many drivers happened to miss. While the SUV is obviously safe to be in during such an accident, having such a large heavy object crash into them massively increases the danger to the other car. While driving SUV’s make the street seemingly safer for those within the vehicle, people in smaller cars on the road will be put in more and more danger.
This did not stop people who wanted SUV’s, from getting one, and the “soccer mom” trend was created. But there’s another factor not often considered that makes the SUV far less trustworthy than imagined, their tipping point. Due to their design, SUV’s are much more probably to tip over when twisting sharply at high speed. Numerous tests have been done to display that SUVs can by no means be considered safe when they are able to flip so easily.
While these issues have been addressed to a small extent by car manufacturers, the SUV can’t be trusted as a completely safe vehicle. Before you decide to buy any car, look up the safety records that were produced from independent companies (not the car manufactures webpage) to see how safe it really is to have an SUV. Don’t trust the salesman who tells you there’s nothing wrong with taking a car twice the height of anything else on the street.
jones | Porsche Turbo | 03 18th, 2010 | No Comments »

