cars again: why suvs suck

[Undertoad]

We haven't had a cars thread here for a while, but I needed someplace to stow this New Yorker piece on SUVs.

tw will love it, except that it kinda debunks the Firestone tire problems as being entirely trivial compared to the problems brought on merely by driving SUVs.

http://www.gladwell.com/2004/2004_01_12_a_suv.html

Halfway down the page is an explanation of how Ford F-series drivers kill more other drivers on the road than any other vehicle. About six times as many, per capita, than Toyota Avalon and VW Jetta drivers.

A few years back an F-150 driver ran into my car. I wasn't in it at the time... it was *parked*, at a mall, and the dickwad didn't have the energy to turn his wheel hard enough to squeeze into the spot next to me. I hit him back for $3000 insurance worth of bodywork at the most expensive custom place in town, and STILL I have a rattle that will live for the life of the car.

[xoxoxoBruce]

Not entirely accurate, but a pretty good picture of the situation.
Being America, I’ll drive any damn thing ...Homeland Security allows.
When it comes to safety, the driver is 10 times as important as the vehicle.

[zippyt]

gee i guess a F-350 loaded with 2-3000 lbs of test weights and tools could smush your jetta like a grape !!!!

[Undertoad]

Article says it won't. 47 out of a million Jetta drivers die each year while 110 F-series drivers die each year. Article says that's because the Jetta is nimble and can avoid the crash.

[Griff]

Originally Posted by Undertoad

Article says it won't. 47 out of a million Jetta drivers die each year while 110 F-series drivers die each year. Article says that's because the Jetta is nimble and can avoid the crash.

Since I usually drive the Echo, I don't like the trend on the light end either. I'd hate to see the death rate on my buggy since it handles poorly, brakes badly, and would fit nicely under a Hummer. Pete's Impreza though fits into the handles its way out of trouble department. I'd rather trust handling over weight for saftey.

[glatt]

As you all know, the whole SUV phenomenon is an end-run around the legislation to improve the fleet feul efficiency of the automobile. SUVs are classified as trucks, so they are exempt from those regulations. Perhaps the answer to the SUV problem is to classify them as trucks and treat them that way. Only holders of commercial truck drivers licences should be permitted to drive SUVs. That should reduce the number of accidents cited in this article, and it would probably also make them less desirable to suburbanites. The SUV would still be legal, and if you wanted to have one badly enough, you could pass the test to get a license to drive one.

With oil around $55 per barrel and going up as we head into winter, the country would be better off with a fleet of vehicles that uses less fuel.

[lumberjim]

Trucks only have to handle like, well, trucks. Cars are built with what is called unit-body construction. To be light enough to meet fuel standards and safe enough to meet safety standards, they have expensive and elaborately engineered steel skeletons, with built-in crumple zones to absorb the impact of a crash.

obviously written by a dolt. it's 'unibody'. and SUV's have crumple zones, too. as well as rubber mounted motors designed to drop out the bottom in severe frontal impacts. My Jeep is a 'uniframe' construction, which combines the cage with frame rails....

"Sport-utility owners tend to be more like 'I wonder how people view me,' and are more willing to trade off flexibility or functionality to get that."

duh. what is more flexible or functional than an SUV? that's the whole point of them.

According to Bradsher, internal industry market research concluded that S.U.V.s tend to be bought by people who are insecure, vain, self-centered, and self-absorbed, who are frequently nervous about their marriages, and who lack confidence in their driving skills.

suck my dick. i can't read any more of that drivel.

here's the deal: and SUV is a STATION WAGON. 4wheel drive is safer in wet weather, snow, and off road. the height of the vehicle and the driver position keep you above most side impacts with beer cans like the echo and the jetta.

so, after much bashing of suv's and how much more nimble a boxster is to drive ( jinx made me read that part) the author plops this in there:

Is the Boxster safer than the TrailBlazer? It depends on who's behind the wheel.

well, no shit. now go buy a trash can in your boxster.
or put a car seat in it, or drive to work in the snow, blah blah blah.

the pole up this author's ass has a pole up its ass.

[Elspode]

I *prefer* to drive a smaller, more nimble vehicle, but (1) I have a camper to tow, (2) I have musical equipment to haul (3) I have a family to drive around (4) I have a home in constant need of repair (5) I have junk to haul off and (6) I drive a long way to work in bad weather, year-round.

My Explorer gets terrible gas mileage, but it solves many of the difficulties associated with my daily life.

[Undertoad]

I think it would be nice to have a small panel truck as a backup vehicle for just such occasions. Of course that doesn't really address the family thing.

[hot_pastrami]

Whether an SUV is "safer" depends on the conext of the accident... none of the author's tests were a head-on collision, for instance, so he can't speak to the experience there.

But I think the author's point, as the numbers seem to demonstrate, is that the majority of accidents are avoidable, provided your vehicle is nimble enough to do the avoiding. If the Titanic hadn't been so damn big, it could have missed that iceburg.

I did feel safer when driving my low-slung Camaro SS, because on the few occasions that my safety was threatened, I had a bigger toolbox to work with... if the brakes weren't going to help me, I also had a responsive gas pedal and steering wheel... and they saved me in a few close calls. But when I was driving my SUV (a Chevy S10 Blazer), a crank of the steering wheel was a dangerous prospect given the rollover risk, and the gas pedal was not too helpful since the V6 took some winding up to alter the inertia of all that steel. But of course the Camaro felt like (and was) a comparative deathtrap when driving in icy/snowy conditions.

I think the author's dissection of the psychology of SUV drivers is flawed, however. He says that SUV drivers are insecure, but how secure is the guy that bought the Boxster insead? Everyone knows that Porsche drivers never use the urinals in public restrooms, opting for the stalls... think about it.

[xoxoxoBruce]

Originally Posted by Undertoad

Article says it won't. 47 out of a million Jetta drivers die each year while 110 F-series drivers die each year. Article says that's because the Jetta is nimble and can avoid the crash.

I think he's leaving out a lot of considerations. There is gazillions of F series fords out there being driven everyday by contractors and their help. Overloaded, traffic, distractions galore, constantly phoning, looking for addresses and street signs, and spilling coffee. Hardly the profile of your average Jetta driver. I'd be more interested in fatalities per million miles driven than million vehicles on the road.

My Explorer gets terrible gas mileage, but it solves many of the difficulties associated with my daily life.

Wouldn't a minivan do the job with better mileage? You could wear a disguise.

BTW- My PT Cruiser is a truck because the seats are removable. The convertible version is a car because they are not removeable.
Of course the Ford Crown Vics the cops drive are imports, so don't be fooled by categories. The feds haven't come up with one category the auto makers couldn't subvert and exploit.

[zippyt]

I'd be more interested in fatalities per million miles driven than million vehicles on the road.
Thank you BRUCE !!!! I drive a 2002 F350 superduty with a utility bed with 120+k miles on it , in 15 years I have been "run in to" Twice , both times the driver said they didn't see me comeing , both times THEY paid to fix my truck .
You HAVE to look beyond the next telephone pole , remember " where would I go if some body did some thing stupid "
Besids , my truck weighs slightly ( about -20 lbs ) less than 10,000 lbs , it don't stop quick and it don't go quick , if'n a jetta does something stupid in front of me I will just squach them . Oh and i also drive our Test Truck weighing in at 63,000+ lbs .

[Clodfobble]

Wouldn't a minivan do the job with better mileage? You could wear a disguise.

Hey! I resemble that remark! As far as I'm concerned, the minivan is the perfect vehicle, and I am utterly baffled why people think they're so uncool.

[xoxoxoBruce]

I'm sure the uncool minivan image has nothing to do with you, Clod.

[jinx]

Originally Posted by Undertoad

I think it would be nice to have a small panel truck as a backup vehicle for just such occasions. Of course that doesn't really address the family thing.

I think it would be great to have a zippy little car or a Wrangler as a back up vehicle, for the rare occasion I don't have 2 or 3 passengers. I love my Jeep GC though, and will be replacing it with same when the time comes.