Criticism of sport utility vehicles

Sport utility vehicles (SUVs) are criticized for a variety of environmental and safety-related reasons as they became more popular. Many of the safety concerns have been addressed by the adoption of electronic stability control (ESC), rollover mitigation, and other design actions.

Generally, drivers of SUVs are safer than those in small and mid-size cars. In an IIHS survey of death rates by vehicle style, smaller cars fare worse than bigger ones. 4-door minicars have a death rate of 82, compared with 46 for very large 4-doors." This survey reflects the effect of both vehicle design and driving behaviour. Drivers of SUVs, minivans, and large cars may drive differently than the drivers of small or mid-size cars, therefore the effect of drivers in the survey may affect the result.

A high center of gravity makes a vehicle more prone to rollover accidents than lower vehicles, especially if the vehicle leaves the road, or, if the driver makes a sharp directional adjustment during emergency maneuvers. Figures from the US National Highway Traffic Safety Administration show that most passenger cars have about a 10% chance of rollover if involved in a single vehicle crash, while SUVs have between 14% and 23% (varying from a low of 14% for the all-wheel-drive (AWD) Ford Edge to a high of 23% for the front-wheel-drive (FWD) Ford Escape). Many modern SUVs are equipped with electronic stability control (ESC) to prevent rollovers on flat surfaces, but 95% of rollovers are "tripped", meaning that the vehicle strikes something low, such as a curb or shallow ditch, causing it to tip over.

According to NHTSA data, early SUVs were at a disadvantage in single-vehicle accidents (such as when the driver falls asleep, or loses control swerving around a deer), which involve 43% of fatal accidents, with more than double the chance of rolling over. This risk related closely to overall US motor vehicle fatality data, showing that SUVs and pickups generally had a higher fatality rate than cars of the same manufacturer.

According to Consumer Reports, as of 2009, SUV rollover safety had improved to the extent that on average there were slightly fewer driver fatalities per million vehicles, due to rollovers, in SUVs as opposed to cars. By 2011 the IIHS reported that "drivers of today's SUVs are among the least likely to die in a crash".

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Wikipedia