We see them everywhere these days, on the way to work, on the highways, parked in every driveway and hundreds of them by every shopping center. Sports utility vehicles have given a new meaning to the word car. When it comes to safety, SUV’s (sports utility vehicle) are by far the most dangerous vehicles on the road, and the road is exactly the place they should not be. Sports utility vehicles are designed for off road driving. It seems like bigger the body is on a SUV, the more popular it is; the SUV’s that we see on the roads today are still a normal size car compared to the coming future models.
With huge bodies and very low safety features sports utility vehicles are being used for totally wrong purposes. Their huge bodies make it hard for other cars to have a clear view of the road they are traveling on. It is very difficult to see around a sports utility vehicle. When a vehicle like Chevrolet Suburban, Yukon, or Ford Expedition is backing up from a parking spot, may god be with the person, car, or any other object that is located behind them.
The driver of these monster trucks have no low rear view at all; sports utility vehicles might be safe to some extent but that only applies to the passengers and the driver in that vehicle. The SUV’s poor brakes and portly weight make them more difficult to stop in rain and snow. Many people get false sense of security from their SUV’s because they’ve been told that SUV’s are good in snow. What they forget, is that they still have to stop. Let’s say an accident was about to take place; the vehicles involved would be a Lincoln navigator and a normal family sedan.
The chances of survival for the passengers in the sedan would be 4 times less. Due to a tall chassis that the body of the vehicle is mounted on, the risk of flipping is very high. A sports utility vehicle is nothing but a mini van body on a 4×4-truck rame. A mini van or a full size van serves exactly the same purpose as a sports utility vehicle does, and the vans are much safer, also they consume much less gasoline 270,000 Chevrolet Suburban and Yukons are on recall, due to airbag problems.
Second reason why SUVs are not a safe transportation vehicle is that oil today, is a natural resource that will only last for 45 more years. A sports utility vehicle with an engine size of 5. 7 liters has a gasoline mileage equivalent to two Toyota Camrys and one Honda Civic combined. In order to tow a trailer that is more than 3000 pounds, then a arge SUV is the best choice. However if the trailer is less than 3000 pounds, there are many mini vans that are up to the task. The Chevrolet venture tows 3500 pounds and the Pontiac trans port tows 3000, for example.
Mini vans and some wagons have more usable space than SUVs of comparable size. Interior space is sacrificed when SUV bodies are designed around truck frames or other 4WD systems. Though few will admit it, many poseurs think that their SUV gives them a tough, independent image instead of the “soccer mom” or “married man” image of a mini van or wagon. While this might have been true a few years ago efore this trend started, now an SUV screams “YUPPIE SUBURBAN FAMILY IN A SUBURBAN” just as much, if not more than a mini van or wagon.
If we take in consideration why so many people prefer SUVs to any other kind of vehicle, we will find that there is no other reason but a simple stupid trend, which is created by auto industries. Just when sports cars and family sedans were getting good, the SUV craze started. Top heavy Explorers and Pathfinders are replacing Taurus SHOs and Nissan 300zxs. This regression in automotive technology is pathetic, and we hate to see this trend destroy the progress that cars have made.
If people would go by their own needs instead of competing with neighbor Anderson about who got the biggest SUV, all the vehicles wouldn’t look the same by every driveway. We should admit who we are, and buy the vehicle best suited for our need and not based on some silly trend. Unfortunately many people are unaware of how technically inferior SUV’s are, strictly from engineering point of view. This would be far less outrageous if not for their high asking prices and huge profit margins. We all would like to see good products succeed in the marketplace and bad ones fail, not the other way around.
