May 28, 2001
This article dealt with a subject to sensitive to be
published in the Kamloops Daily News


Ford hopes to divert attention from the real problem with
their Sport Utility Vehicles.  They have recalled all
Explorers to replace the Firestone tires, which they say
have resulted in fatalities.  But replacement of tires is
largely cosmetic, -- the main problem is the design of the
SUV itself.

SUVs are have a high centre of gravity.  This makes them
tipsy and susceptible to rollover.  Not only do SUVs
rollover more easily, but the fatalities in those rollovers
are higher than in cars.  In fact, 60 per cent of SUV
fatalities were the result of rollovers in 1999, compared to
23 per cent for cars, according to the National Highway
Traffic Safety Administration in the United States.

The higher rollover fatality rate is because SUVs don't roll
over gently.  They are rectangular and roll like a brick. 
The sides of the vehicle hit the ground hard, transferring
energy to the occupants.  Cars have a lower profile -- they
tend to roll like a log and come to a stop relatively
slowly.

There are also more casualties when SUVs hit cars.  They are
basically a ladder shaped frame with the body bolted on. 
That solid frame acts like a battering ram in a collision
with a car.  The frame rides over a car's bumpers or
doorsills, punching into the passenger compartment. 

But SUV drivers needn't feel smug knowing they drive a
battering ram on wheels.  They are also more susceptible to
injury.  Unlike cars, SUVs are not designed to crumple. 
When a well-designed car hits a solid object, the car body
folds to absorb shock and protecting the passenger.   In a
SUV, the frame does not crumple.  The impact forces are
transferred to the driver and passengers.

SUVs don't corner as well; they use more fuel and pollute
more;  give the driver a false sense of security; take
longer to accelerate and brake.  So what makes them so
popular?  Marketing.  By the late 1980's, Detroit's
marketers had identified a new class of driver -- well paid,
pleasure seeking, fast driving, concerned with appearance,
and an above average fear of road dangers and crime in
general. 

Add to this demographic the television spectacle
of Operation Desert Storm in which the Free World kicked
Saddam Hussein's butt out of Kuwait.  The image of real men
in off-road army vehicles riding across the desert  was
indelibly burned in American minds.  Stop worrying, implied
the desert heros, there is no oil crisis.   Whenever you
baby boomers feel the urge to buy a sensible vehicle,
remember that all the free world has to do is liberate an
oppressed country and relieve them of their excess oil. 

Automakers capitalized on the convergence of a popular war
and mid-life angst in baby boomers.   Profits are $10,000 on
each SUV sold -- ten times the profit on a car or minivan. 
The profit is in the simple design.  Basically it's a
pick-up truck with a new body. No need to design the vehicle
from scratch.  No need to design an efficient engine or new
drive train.

If the carnage on the road caused by SUVs is not a sobering
thought, then damage to the environment should be.   Each
SUV produces twice the carbon dioxide of a mid-sized car and
triple that of a Honda Civic, says Paul Roberts in Harper's
magazine.

The environmental harm is not only to our atmosphere. 
President Bush has vowed to find more oil to power
gas-guzzling SUVs by drilling for oil in the fragile Artic. 
Bush is not only willing to risk damage to arctic water and
wildlife, but to the health indigenous people, including
Canadians.  Pollution doesn't stop at the Alaska boarder.

There is no need to drill for oil in the Arctic.  All the
proposed oil from Alaska -- 42 million U.S. gallons a day --
could be saved by a modest improvement of only 3 miles per
gallon in the fuel economy of SUVs.

Automakers even have the gall to advertise off-road SUVs as
a way of  communing with nature.  Commercials show happy
families driving through the wilderness.  All the while,
automakers know that SUVs are dangerous to both nature and
living things.  The hypocrisy of this advertising leaves me
cold.  

go back to my Columns in the