SUV Owners of America Respond to SUV PSA Campaign
WASHINGTON, Feb. 4, 2005 -- A nationwide SUV safety education campaign launched earlier this week at the New York Central Park Zoo warrants some balance. SUV Owners of America applauds the efforts to educate drivers about the different handling characteristics of SUVs as compared to other vehicle types, but we are concerned that media coverage of this launch has, once again, included inaccurate stereotyping and the repetition of misinterpreted safety data.
While SUVs have a higher center of gravity and therefore a greater propensity to rollover, data from the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety (IIHS) show that SUVs have the fewest occupant deaths of any other vehicle type. Further, larger vehicles in any vehicle class have lower fatality rates. See IIHS chart below and for their more detailed model by model injury rates go to: http://12.4.65.102/vehicle_ratings/ictl/ictl.htm
The best overall measure of a vehicle's safety performance is the fatality rate for that vehicle type. Too often the focus is solely on one type of crash like rollovers as with the following factoid:
"Single-vehicle rollover crashes accounted for 47 percent of occupant deaths in SUVs in 2003 compared with 36 percent of deaths in pickups and 19 percent of deaths in cars."
At face value, this is a true statement. But does it reveal the entire picture? NO. Yes, the percentage of "rollover" deaths in SUVs is higher than that of other vehicle types, but SUVs are nearly twice as protective of their occupants in all other types of crashes. Only about 3 percent of all crashes are rollovers. Since drivers cannot predict what kind of crash they may have they are better served by looking at the overall fatality rate of the vehicle type. And the fatality rate will vary with vehicle size.
Moreover, most rollover crashes need not be lethal events. Occupants of SUVs and all vehicles can improve their survival chances dramatically by taking the simple step of using safety belts. Here's the mostly unreported story about vehicle rollovers: Almost three-quarters of people killed in fatal rollover crashes, in various vehicle models, do not wear their safety belts. Similarly, the government estimates that 66 percent of those non-belt users would be alive today had they simply buckled up. Every 1 percent increase in safety belt use would save 270 lives a year in the U.S.
The following chart was compiled by the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety:
(Note: almost every year since 1992 occupants of SUVs have fared better than those of vehicles)
Occupant deaths per million registered passenger vehicles 1-3 years old, 1978-2003
Year Drivers All occupants
Cars Pickups SUVs All Cars Pickups SUVs All
passenger passenger
vehicles vehicles
1978 155 237 273 169 235 346 438 256
1979 165 246 271 180 244 350 425 265
1980 167 221 287 177 248 316 494 263
1981 177 216 237 182 259 296 389 265
1982 155 188 229 159 231 263 392 236
1983 148 188 225 153 220 263 337 225
1984 147 190 143 151 218 259 218 222
1985 139 182 141 144 208 257 227 213
1986 128 172 134 133 196 239 224 202
1987 130 178 136 136 197 248 232 205
1988 134 186 121 140 206 251 198 211
1989 130 185 116 138 200 255 185 208
1990 122 179 126 131 188 245 201 197
1991 108 169 109 117 169 229 175 178
1992 102 151 88 108 160 200 151 165
1993 97 137 93 102 153 187 141 156
1994 100 134 87 104 160 178 148 161
1995 103 134 102 107 160 180 157 162
1996 107 127 98 109 168 178 150 167
1997 96 118 93 99 153 161 146 153
1998 90 119 86 94 141 158 141 144
1999 91 120 93 96 138 162 139 143
2000 83 117 81 89 127 155 135 134
2001 83 130 74 89 125 170 116 131
2002 84 123 76 88 126 162 122 131
