As I noted in my old blog there was a great article by Malcolm Gladwell about SUV's and perceived safety. I think his points overall are quite good but I may have found some facts to the contrary.
The National Highway Safety Administration has released their rollover tests for SUVs and one thing is surprising, the American 4x4 platform has better ratings than the 4x2 or the foreign 4x4 platforms. Note: the higher number is a better rating in the table
Digging a litte deeper, the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety records fatalities in vehicles in the U.S and it seems that people in SUVs are much less likely to die in highway accidents than passenger car drivers. This may be a bit misleading as the number of SUVs on the road versus passenger vehicles might be much less... but you wouldn't think that around here.
I still think Gladwell's point of avoiding accidents is a strong one and I do wish that SUVs were subject to the same regulatory controls as passenger cars, but it does look as though the facts are confusing at best when it comes to safety.
Posted by dmason at March 9, 2004 10:34 AM