SUVs improve rollover safety
New safety ratings issued by the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration for 2007 model year SUVs reveal the former deathtraps are now much less likely to suffer from a rollover at high speed. Rollovers account for 10,000 deaths in the U.S. every year, which is 30% of all vehicle related deaths in the country despite rollovers accounting for only 3% off all crashes.
The ratings describe the likelihood of an SUV entering a rollover and are ranked on a scale of five stars, five being the safest. The latest findings show that more than half of the 2007 model-year SUVs scored a four-star rating in the rollover tests, compared with just one model back in 2001. One of the new features that have lead to the improved safety levels is electronic stability control, now standard on 86% of new SUVs.
Pickup trucks fared even better than SUVs, with 74 out of the 89 vehicles tested scoring a four star rating. Surprisingly, no SUV or pickup has ever scored a five star rating in these particular safety tests.
[Source: Detroit News]
Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)
Tverez 3:51PM (8/29/2007)
Offtopic:
Russian GAZ group has shown today GAZ Siber, a restyled version of Chrysler Sebring (exterior restyled by UK company UltraMotive Design and Engineering).
The license and tooling for these cars were sold in April 2006 to Russian billionaire Oleg Deripaska, who owns the GAZ company in Nizhny Novgorod, which builds the Volga automobile. This agreement cost about US$151 million (€ 124 million).
Official press release: http://www.gazgroup.ru/news/news/?id=1326
photos: http://auto.lenta.ru/photo/2007/08/29/siber/06.htm
UltraMotive: http://www.ultramotive.eu/
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EM 3:57PM (8/29/2007)
See: Send Us a Tip
Tverez 4:05PM (8/29/2007)
EM:
Thank you, I didn't notice this button on the top of the page.
SPG 7:24PM (8/29/2007)
The front end treatment would of made a good mid-life upgrade for the Sebring a few years ago.
Good news for Sebring Stratus owners, parts interchangable with your car will be produced for the next thirty or more years.
Another nod to Audi with the front Grille I see.
Compared to the rest of the Gaz lineup this car is an ultra modern work of art.
h8rain 5:04PM (8/29/2007)
Love the pic! Take that you people who think Volvos are the safest thing on the road :)
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Jason 5:27PM (8/29/2007)
Volvo's claim to fame (in the past at least) about safety was surviving an accident, not so much avoiding them.
Barney 5:51PM (8/29/2007)
The main problem is controlling the driver. An SUV or pickup needs special attention and there is just no way to control an idiot driver.
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Bruno 9:17PM (8/29/2007)
I agree the driver is an important neglected component. I have been on two lane offramps so tight it made me think twice about going so fast in a BMW 3 series, only to look over and see a fool in a tippy SUV hanging right beside me, tires screeching, in the lane beside me. Any sudden situation whatsoever and they'd have been on their sides.
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Harold Kerrick 8:02AM (8/30/2007)
I would imagine that as long as pickup trucks and SUV MUST be higher off the ground than an ordinary sedan (for practically and/or fashion reasons) neither a pickup or an SUV will get a 5 star rating.
BTW, just this week I saw a large SUV get flipped at an intersection when it was hit in "just the right spot" by a speeding sedan. Not to say a sedan wouldn't have been flipped also, but folks who buy/drive an SUV for safety sakes are often deluding themselves.
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