"Rollover" is another in a long list of one-sided and manipulative Frontline presentations.

I owned a Ford Explorer for 7 years. I commuted to work every day on the L.A. freeways. I lived in the Pacific Northwest and drove on a tight two lane mountain road every day. I took many long highway trips. I went off road often visiting such places as the East Mojave desert.

Never once in over 100,000 miles of driving under diverse conditions did I even come close to getting my wheels off the pavement, much less roll the vehicle over. My Explorer came equipped with Firestone ATX tires. I never had a problem with them (of course I kept them properly inflated and rotated them regularly).

Near the end of the broadcast, a man states that his child was killed when their SUV went into a skid and rolled several times. Went into a skid? All by itself? The sheer number of SUV rollover accidents leads me to believe that many are caused by drivers who do not understand the dynamics of a high profile vehicle.

Frank M.
orange county, ca

Dear FRONTLINE,

We own two huge SUVs. We are shopping for a third, even bigger. Earth is NOT running out of usable engergy. A little science and common sense trump emotion, in rational discourse.

Americans are the world's cleanest, most energy-efficient, and most productive people on the planet. Our output and innovation are antithetical to nostalgic Sovietophilic sensibilities, however. We contribute generously to our local PBS outlet and will continue to do so, in spite of the NPR/PBS/Democratic Party axis of, if not evil, then manipulation, propagation of half-truths, and hunger for Central Command.

Tom Bright
sacramento, california

Dear FRONTLINE,

i have taught driver ed for years, and often explain to my students that you drive according to conditions, like road conditions, vehicle conditions, etc... when driving SUV's, you drive them more slowly around corners and on unstable surfaces, not like sportscars.

I hope other driver ed teachers explain center of gravity, etc. to their students, but we can only reach a small population of drivers, mainly teens, and possibly their parents IF the kids tell their folks what they are learning about driving different vehicles. Do you think we could pass laws to require drivers to take a "technology update" every 5 to 10 years? People would scream, yet how many people currently driving an ABS-equipped vehicle know how to apply ABS? DON'T PUMP!!! What about airbag clearance, that people should not sit within 12" of the steering wheel?

People need good information on vehicle technology, yet budgets for education are constantly cut. Therefore, we must rely on the media to put out the information, yet how many people watch anything educational on TV, or read magazines or newspapers???

We can't seem to legislate safety; besides, there's always those who will go ahead and do whatever they want, to the detriment to the rest of us.

c. goebel-frahm
todd county, mn

Dear FRONTLINE,

As an owner of both a Ford Expedition and a Ford Mustang, I was interested in your show. I have taken my SUV off road, and I autocross my Mustang. I enjoy both vehicles for their respective strengths, and give due respect to their weaknesses. An informed consumer is the best consumer, I believe. Your program did a good job of informing on the weaknesses of SUV's, but was a bit weak on showing the strengths. Strive for a bit better balance next time.

Mike Clarke
boise, id

Dear FRONTLINE,

As someone who drives often (I put over fifty thousand miles on my compact truck every year) in the city and on our nation's interstate system I've seen my fair share of devastating crashes and witnessed many drivers of SUVs using their vehicles' size to intimidate other drivers in smaller vehicles, even to the point of causing deadly collisions.

Americans need to review their driving habits and perhaps pare down their needs. We know deep down that aggressive driving is dangerous. We are very status conscious and we look towards our cars to express it. But Americans are loathe to buy vehicles that are strictly functional, safe or show any concern for other fellow drivers or the environment. Clearly a majority of new car buyers are opting for an SUV despite the negative publicity and the disquieting evidence identifying the inherent safety flaws in SUV design. This phenomenon is largely unique to the US. European, Asian and other smaller markets are not experiencing rapid growth in the SUV segment. Non-Americans see SUVs for what they are: trucks that carry loads, loads of things, not your toddler. We're just being our rugged, stubborn and individualistic selves without heed to reason or a sense of aesthetic for that matter. Hey, have you seen the new Passat station wagon lately?

Walter Schultz
chicago, il

Dear FRONTLINE,

We are driving old Volvo 700/900 wagons (newer wagons are too small) because we have three kids and I want shoulder belts for all of them plus a seat back that is of useful height to offer protection and support in a worse case scenario. Most SUV back seats are rediculous.(We briefly had a 95 Cherokee. A Company car)The top of the seat back hit my elementary school age kids below the shoulders .

I wonder how the death per unit ratios of SUVs would compare to handguns ?(Yeah, I know that's an inflamatory question, but it might get the soccer moms attention; guns are....) Also, there is no question that the most recent SUV's are being engineered more responsibly, and offerings from Honda/Acura, Toyota/Lexus, and GM that are mini-van or car based are an improvement.But when will the automakers make a nice BIG wagon again? Actually, 'wagon' is a taboo label in the industry, and thats another piece of the story. SUV's sold over wagons because you could still be 'cool' in an SUV. Perhaps we really have no one to blame but ourselves.

devon, pa.

Dear FRONTLINE,

Your science was shoddy and your interview list slanted. Joan Claybrook, the Sierra Club, the Institute for Auto Safety, New York Times reporter, the trial lawyers? The only dissenting opinion was a marketing consultant to the auto industry who talked about why SUV's are popular.

I think you have convinced yourselves that SUV's and auto companies are evil that must be rid from the face of the earth. Therefore you presented your 'public service' story in a dishonest fashion. Several, gaping, holes exist in your analysis;

Are SUV's a safer vehicle to drive? What is the accident death rate for SUV's and what is it for other types of vehicles. You'll see it's safer to be in a bigger vehicle where was your analysis. You said at one point the raw number of SUV rollover deaths increased throughout the 90's. Could it be because their were more SUV's sold? SUV's are more likely to rollover but, on balance, are they safer?

Jerry Sweetland
shakopee, mn

Dear FRONTLINE,

Customers drive the design of the vehicle not the government.

The government would be more effective guiding the design of future vehicles if they spent their money on advertising focused on convincing customers that safety and the environment come first.

Dan Balogh
menasha, wisconsin

Dear FRONTLINE,

SUVs have two problems, their design and their DRIVERS. The latter is the worse problem. Drivers of all vehicles receive licenses too easily. They do not drive defensively. Advertising promotes speeding and aggressiveness. Rules of the road are disregarded. Speed limits are not taken seriously. Law enforcement is hampered by insufficient numbers of patrol vehicles in my state and municipality. Auto insurance companies do not sufficiently reward good drivers nor punish sufficiently bad drivers. Bad driving is the major cause of accidents. A bad vehicle design makes the accident worse and NHTSA is culpable, but the cause is the aggressive or incautious driver, bad training and inadequate law enforcement.

st petersburg, fl

Dear FRONTLINE,

What a hatchet job. How fast were the suv's going? Was it raining? Snowing? How many lives have been saved by people driving bigger, stronger vehicles?

How many people have been killed that could have lived if they were driving an suv? How about a fair equal time story, instead of a one sided hatchet job?

Rick Stoeckel
mpls, mn

Dear FRONTLINE,

I drove for 2 car dealerships, had a perfect driving record. I bought a kia sportage. 2 weeks later on a rainy night, I rolled it 2.5 times. I was not going fast since I had only gone .5 miles. My best friend was paralyzed from the waist down. I had a brain injury. They are trying to charge me for the friend being paralyzed and I am being sued, by him also he no longer will speak to me.

I was not going fast and there was no reason that the vehicle should have rolled. If there is anything that I can do to inform people about the dangers, I am willing. This was an accident and my life and others have been ruined from it. I am on daily medication just to function and am scared to death to be in a vehicle.

Sharla Utpadel
wheeler, wi

Dear FRONTLINE,

I think that all SUVs should face tougher regulations,.

I know people who own SUVs and they talk about when they make a simple turn at about 15 miles an hour that they can feel the vehicle wobble as if it was more top heavy than normal. I think that it is rediculous and action should be taken to make these types of vehicles safer.

wyoming, michigan

Dear FRONTLINE,

Should those of us who see the inherent problems with the SUV be subjected to more pollution, more reliance on foreign oil, higher fuel price volatility, and a higher risk of life threatening injuries on the highway (even if an accident isn't our fault) simply so uninformed individuals can have a greater choice of vehicles, and an industry can maximize profits?

Washington blew it when it killed legislation to impose tighter fuel restrictions on SUVs. They condemned everyone--including those who know better--to deal with an ever increasing plague of unenlightened, ill-equipped SUV drivers oblivious to their potential for environmental and personal destruction.

Using SUV proponent mentality, we should all be driving 4000+ pound vehicles to insure our safety on the roadways simply because others choose to drive 4000+ pound vehicles. I can't wait to see what how that will affect America's petroleum demands.

Lastly, it seemed apparent to me that Jerry Curry was involved in a conflict of interest as director of NHTSA given his obvious regard for the SUV and his apparent lack of objectivity when reviewing their problems. His contention that "the American people are not stupid" in the context of SUV ownership is asinine--I dare say even oxymoronic.

Jason Witt
winchester, kentucky

Dear FRONTLINE,

Through all of this diatribe about a flawed tire design and a flawed vehicle design, complete and honest journalism would look at the independent experiment performed by the magazine Car and Driver. In the experiment, the editors sent a test driver out in a Ford Explorer designed to mimic a blowout. While the experiment did not exactly match conditions that one would experience during tread separation, what it did illustrate could shed some light on this discussion.

Simply consider the following: the driver of the Explorer was able to undergo a sudden and complete loss of tire pressure in one of the front tires at 70MPH with his hands off the wheel without rolling the vehicle. What this suggests is that the real cause of the rollovers lie with the drivers, not the vehicle, or even the admittedly flawed tire design.

Andrew Barrett
minneapolis, minnesota

Dear FRONTLINE,

Don't forget the unbelievable lack of rollover protection in the Explorer and many other SUVs. You expecrt a hard-top vehicle to provide some protection if you roll over. The Exploreer doesn't. Ford could have easily reinforced the "A" pillars, which invariably collapse even at low speeds, but they didn't. I once rolled over in a Datsun 510, due to blatant stupidity. Not only were there no injuries, I was actually able to drive it home! Try that with your SUV.

Any vehicle which can't tolerate a blowout without rolling is also unsafe. I'm amazed they were abl;e to blame it on Firestone.

Diane Steel and Jerry Curry should be tried for negligent homicide. They not only failed in their duties, they actively supressed information that could have saved lives.

Finially, the failure to include SUVs in the fuel efficiency regulations is wasteful and absurd. Unless you're a president with friends in the oil business.

Daniel Woodard
merritt island, florida

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