WASHINGTON — SUVs are once again in the crosshairs — accused
of being “unsafe” because they continue to be involved in a higher
number of rollover-type accidents than ordinary passenger cars.
This issue can be looked at several ways — but the
determinative factor in rollover-type accidents is very often not
the SUVs themselves. Rather, it’s the way SUVs are sometimes
driven. Specifically, they way they are often driven
inappropriately by people who don’t appreciate and respect the
built-in limitations of these special-purpose vehicles.
Unlike passenger cars, SUVs are not designed for safe high-speed
driving — or for high load cornering and abrupt lane-changing
maneuvers. These are not indications of “defective design,” however
— but a consequence of the built-in features that give SUVs an
advantage off-road in heavy snow and on rough, unpaved roads —
such as their high ground clearance and the Mud/Snow-rated (M/S)
tires they are often equipped with. But these off-road advantages
also put SUVs at a distinct disadvantage on-road relative to
conventional passenger cars — which have a lower ride height and
center of gravity, as well as suspension systems and tires designed
primarily for on-street driving.
But driven with respect for their unique capabilities and the
limitations they impose, SUVs are no more dangerous than, for
example, sports cars — which are as vulnerable when driven in
heavy snow (or on rocky unpaved backwoods trails) as an SUV is when
driven at 85-mph, or pushed into a freeway off-ramp posted 35-mph
at 20 over that.
YET WHILE MOST PEOPLE understand the built-in limitations of sports
cars — you rarely hear of a person attempting to take his Corvette
on a hunting trip and subsequently complaining that “there ought to
be a law” because it slid off the mountain or got hung up on a rock
— SUV owners regularly ignore the built-in design limitations of
their SUVs and drive them no differently than they would a
passenger car, or even a high-performance sports car.
Head out on any freeway and you’ll see them all around you —
SUVs buzzing along at 70, 80 mph (or faster), their drivers weaving
in and out of traffic, one hand on the wheel, the other clutching a
cell phone, following too closely, etc. And when the over-taxed SUV
gets pushed beyond its lower-than-passenger car limits and becomes
unstable, it — not the driver — gets the blame.
Fundamentally, however, the problem lies with the way SUVs are
driven — not with the SUVs themselves. This is probably a
consequence not of willful recklessness on the part of SUV owners
but by dint of the fact that SUVs have become mass-market vehicles
that have been sold to the general public as no different in their
driving dynamics and limitations/abilities than passenger cars.
Their on-street limitations are deliberately played down — or
ignored entirely — while their “fun to drive” qualities are played
up. Modern SUVs are also deceptively easy to drive — and to drive
excessively fast. As a result, people are driving them well beyond
the “safety zone” of their built-in design limitations — getting
in way over their heads — and wondering why their SUVs have an
ugly habit of turning turtle on them.
THIS MESS IS ONLY GOING to get worse as the number of SUVs on the
road increases. SUVs have grown from a small niche — perhaps 5
percent of all new vehicle sales — to more than 50 percent of all
new vehicle sales today. As their popularity grows, so also will
the number of needless accidents involving SUVs.
Fixing this will require two things — neither of which is a new
law or mandated piece of costly add-on “safety” equipment to
idiot-proof SUVs.
First, the automakers must take steps to educate the buying
public about the inherent limitations of an off-road-capable
vehicle on paved roads. It must be made clear that a 5,000-lb.
truck-derived 4x4 SUV is not something to be doing 70, 80 or 90-mph
in (as was the case with a great many of the Ford Explorers
involved in the Firestone tire/rollover debacle of a few years
back). Such a vehicle is more subject to crosswinds due to its boxy
profile — and the air pressure that builds up underneath the
vehicle due to its higher ground clearance further decreases
stability the faster the vehicle is pushed. Its Mud and Snow-rated
(M/S) tires are not designed for continuous high-speed travel; heat
build-up can cause dramatic failure at high speed — leading to
loss of control and a potential rollover.
Two, SUV owners need to respect the built-in limitations of
their special-purpose vehicles and learn to drive them within their
“safety zone” — no more cruising along in heavy traffic at 75-mph,
no more taking corners at even 5-mph over the posted maximum. No
more riding people’s bumpers — and then having to swerve violently
to avoid a rear-ender when the car ahead brakes suddenly. And no
more blaming the automakers — or SUVs — for the poor choices SUV
owners make behind the wheel.
Let’s use some common sense and drive our vehicles within reason
and with respect for what they can — and cannot — do.
