Safe SUV's are possible and affordable


Many early SUVs were built with narrow wheelbases and were top heavy. Now, some manufacturers are building SUVs with better-proportioned weight designs that help limit rollovers. Even better yet, some European manufacturers are reinforcing the roofs of SUVs to help prevent roof crush during a rollover accident.

Auto safety groups are trying to convince the NHTSA to update federal roof-crush standards. These roof standards have not been updated since 1972.

Motor Trend names Mazda CX-9 as 2008 SUV of year Monday, October 15, 2007 Associated Press DETROIT -- Motor Trend magazine has selected the 2008-model Mazda CX-9 as its sport utility vehicle of the year. The award from a field of 11 finalists is to be featured in the magazine's Nov. 6 edition, Motor Trend said in an announcement prepared for release Monday. "We wondered if it would be possible for Mazda to inject its sports car DNA into their first-ever three-row crossover -- a crossover that happened to be one of the largest in the lineup," said editor-in-chief Angus MacKenzie. He said tests showed that the CX-9 was "arguably the most enjoyable sport utility to drive, and a great reminder that SUVs can be as exciting as any car." The Mazda CX-9 has a base price of $35,250 and was listed at $41,540 as tested. It has a 3.7-liter, 273 horsepower V-6 engine and goes from zero to 60 mph in 7.8 seconds. It weighs 4,633 pounds, seats seven, and is rated at 15 miles per gallon in the city and 21 mpg highway. The other finalists were the Buick Enclave, Hyundai Veracruz, Jeep Liberty, Jeep Patriot, Land Rover LR2, Nissan Rouge, Saturn Vue, Subaru Tribeca, Toyota Highlander and Toyota Land Cruiser.

 

NHTSA issues new airbag regulations Wednesday, September 05, 2007 David Shepardson / Detroit News Washington Bureau WASHINGTON -- Motorists will be protected by both head and torso side airbags by 2013, under a new regulation adopted today. The rule unveiled by the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration requires automakers to install side curtain and side torso airbags by Sept. 1, 2013. It goes beyond what automakers pledged to do in 2003, when they voluntarily agreed to install side head airbags -- but not side torso airbags. The 291-page regulation will save more than 300 lives per year and 260 serious injuries per year -- a smaller estimate than when NHTSA initially proposed upgrading the standard in 2004. That's because by 2013 all vehicles will be required to have anti-rollover technology, called electronic stability control. NHTSA rejected most requests by automakers to water down the testing requirement for the new side impact standards. It left in place a requirement to use a smaller crash-test dummy that better represents a short woman driver and kept a proposed new pole-crash test. NHTSA said the regulation will essentially require "a two-sensor-per-vehicle window curtain and separate thorax side air bag system." Complying with the regulation will add $243 per vehicle, but NHTSA says based on reviewing automakers' product plans, the new requirements will only add $33 per vehicle, or $560 million a year, to what the car companies were planning to do anyway. "With these rigorous new regulations, we are building on the strength of innovative and lifesaving side-impact technologies that are already available to new car drivers," said NHTSA administrator Nicole Nason. Automakers in 2003 agreed to add side airbags to all vehicles by Sept. 1, 2009. The Alliance of Automobile Manufacturers, the trade group that represents the Detroit Three, Toyota and five other major automakers, noted they have been committed to installing side airbags. "This is another instance where automakers were ahead of the curve on safety. Automakers saw the safety benefits from side air bags, and even though there were no requirements to install side air bags in vehicles, we have already put them in 84 percent of new autos," said Dave McCurdy, the alliance's CEO. "Alliance members believe this final rule will allow automakers to continue with the industry-initiated, voluntary agreement to install side air bags in all vehicles by Sept. 1, 2009." The group also praised the new rule. "Safety is the industry's number one priority. We commend NHTSA for its thorough review and analysis of the scientific data to ensure that the final rule will protect drivers and passengers in real-world conditions," McCurdy said. The new rule will do much for head protection -- noting that 41 percent of deaths in side impact crashes are from head injuries. The new requirement will reduce the fatality risk by 24 percent. The requirement goes beyond what automakers had volunteered, which was to install side airbags in vehicles weighing 8,500 pounds or less. NHTSA will require the heaviest vehicles weighing more than that to have the head/side air bag combination by Sept. 1, 2013. Smaller vehicles must have them by Sept. 1, 2012. When NHTSA proposed upgrading side protection standards in May 2004, it said it hoped to have the final rules in place by 2005. That delay drew criticism from the previous NHTSA administrator, Jeffrey Runge.

 

Technology helping SUVs cut rollover risk Government crash tests show class of vehicles becoming safer August 28, 2007 WASHINGTON - The 2007 model year saw a sharp increase in the number of sport-utility vehicles that scored highly on federal rollover crsh tests, according to an analysis by The Associated Press. Seventy-eight of current-year SUVs received a four-star rating in the rollover tests, according to an analysis by The Associated Press, compared with 48 in the 2006 model year and just one in 2001. More than 100 models are tested each year. One apparent reason for the improved ratings: More new SUVs are equipped with anti-rollover technology that will become mandatory by the 2012 model year. SUVs long have been controversial because they typically ride higher off the ground than passenger cars and have higher centers of gravity, and "thus are more susceptible to rollover if involved in a single-vehicle crash," according to the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration. Rollovers 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. Rollover ratings issued by NHTSA give consumers information on the likelihood of a rollover. The highest rating of five stars means a vehicle has up to a 10 percent chance of rolling over in a one-car crash. A four-star vehicle has a 10 percent to 20 percent risk and a three-star vehicle has a 20 percent to 30 percent. In NHTSA testing, no SUV has earned a top five-star rating. 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. 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 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.

Volvo has already adapted safer standards by reinforcing the roof of the Volvo XC90 with boron. Boron, a very hard black material with a high melting point, is four times stronger than steel. In rollover tests, the results showed limited collapse to the roof in comparison to tests done with steel roofs. This limited roof crush makes a life or death difference in a serious rollover accident for passengers of a vehicle.

Clarence Ditlow of the Center for Auto Safety claims it's purely a matter of economics. "Some SUVs have a $15,000 profit to the manufacturer in them. The average sport utility vehicle has about a $5,000 profit. The manufacturers don't want to lose a single sale and they're afraid if rollover ratings get out, they'll lose sales."

Below is a promotional video showing the Volvo SUV in a rollover test. Notice how little collapse occurs in the roof structure:
Volvo Rollover and roof crush test


"One half of all highway deaths involve only one vehicle. Many of these crashes are rollovers in SUVs." — Russ Rader, spokesman, IIHS

In fact, many European automakers who are counterparts of the big three American automakers, are busy building vehicles with reinforced roofs that far exceed the current US roof crush standards, which haven't been updated since 1972.

Considering the low cost, an estimated $50 per vehicle, the big three automakers in the U.S. have done a good job of keeping the NHTSA fairly quiet in regards to new guidelines for safe automobiles. $50 to them is not a lot of money for one vehicle, but for millions of vehicles sold, $50 per vehicle adds hundreds of millions to the profits of Ford, GM and Chrysler. To the rest of us, $50 is the cost of a life.

ABC news - Feb. 4 - The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration has released rollover test results for several 2004 model SUV's. No vehicle earned the top rating of 5 stars, but the Chevy Trailblazer, the Subaru outback wagon, the Toyota Echo, the Ford Focus wagon and the Volvo XC90 received 4 stars.

 

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