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FRONTLINE

photo of an suv crash test and a family looking at a truck

join the discussion: Do you believe SUVs should face tougher safety and environmental regulations, even if it means lower profits for auto companies and fewer choices for consumers?

Dear FRONTLINE,

Are suv's as safe as cars? Of course not. As individuals we shall decide when a vehicle is safe enough for our personal use. Our government should provide us, as citizens, with information regarding stability and overall safety of all domestic vehicles, but the choice to buy or not is a personal one.

Frontline's "rollover", assumes that our government knows what is best for us.

charles boyle
tampa, fl

Dear FRONTLINE,

I lost my brother in an accident in 1989. He was riding in a Bronco II with the rest of my family. My mother was severly hurt with hip/leg injuries and my other brother had to have hip surgery which caused him to have to leave the armed service.

I just hope that before too many more people have to dead the car companies take respondible for their actions or lack of them. Maybe the foreign car companies have the right idea to make them right the first time even if it takes longer and in the end cost less (less lawsuits).I forgot most of our vehicles are foreign made.

jennifer olsen
omaha, ne

Dear FRONTLINE,

I have owned a 1992 Ford Explorer since late 1992. I read the owners manual and learned that if I drove it the same way I drove my 5 speed nissan, it would probably flip over.

so guess what? I slowed down for curves, didn't stay so close to the car in front of me, and I'm proud to say I've not only avioded an accident, I've not had a speeding ticket since I bought it. These drivers may be the problem. However,because I feel that FORD motor company has dumped the problem on Firestone, I will never buy another Ford product.

Janet Brown
richmond, virginia

Dear FRONTLINE,

It seems to me that this is just another case of profits overtaking public safety. I owned SUV's until I witnesed a Ford Explorer with Firestone tires start fishtailing and roll-over on a major interstate here in Indiana. I saw the rear tire fall apart and the vehicle lose control violently. The passenger was killed and the driver was seriously injured. This was before the big uproar in the media. I did my own research and found that all SUV's are unstable. This is so typical of the way our government and bureaucracy behave on a daily basis, if it hurts the profits of big business it must be destoyed at all costs. That is until so many bodies are piled up in front of them that the politicians and bereaucrats are forced to do something. They will do absolutely nothing proactive. I am sick of our reactive governments, national, state, and local. Isn't it ironic that all SUV's are getting lower to the ground and with wider wheelbases even though the automakers insist that there isn't a problem with the basic design of SUV's.

Jeff Corbin
seymour, indiana

Dear FRONTLINE,

I just want to say what a great job you guys have done with this subject.

I can't stand SUVs and considering environmental, and War/Oil issues I can't understand how some one can drive around in one of these things and consider themselves patriotic. I'd say something more like idiotic.

Noah Todd
new york, ny

Dear FRONTLINE,

Get off of it. We will drive our SUVs no matter what you liberal do gooders do or say. The reality is that the addtional risk is so small so as to be unmeasurable when held up against all the other risks we take in our lives. Rollovers are but a small fraction of the deaths on the highway. And if we do go that way, that's OK too. We will have lived, instead of existing to fear death.

new iberia, la

Dear FRONTLINE,

It is sad that people do not learn how to drive SUV's and when bad things happen will not admit that they messed up. If a person tried to drive an eighteen wheeler with no experience it would be unsafe, but that does not make it Kenworth's fault. If people want to blame the auto makers they should blame them for marketing them to inexperienced drivers. SUV's were originally made to drive off road, now people drive them on the road. If they want to drive on the road they should get a minivan, not complain that their SUV is not one.

Scott Peterson
college station, tx

Dear FRONTLINE,

I did not like the liberal tone of the rollover program. I own three cars, one of them being a Honda Civic and one of them being a Chevrolet Tahoe. The Tahoe provides our family with a lot of utility. We like to sit up high. We like the spacious feeling, the comfort and the crash safety.

Everytime we fill the tank, we are reminded that it uses more gasoline...but we think it is a good trade off. We realize because it sits higher, it can roll over easier...but sitting higher provides benefits that we consider to be worth the risk. If you want to put warnings on them, I am ok with that, but I sure hate these people who try to force their preferences on others.

edinboro, pa

Dear FRONTLINE,

Another effect of the explosion in SUVs is the inability to see around them on the road.

Signage and signals placed to be seen by regular sized passenger vehicles are often blocked from vision.

brooklyn, ny

Dear FRONTLINE,

What's next -- the government telling me what size house to buy because a bigger one uses more energy and might cause more damage in an earthquake? Let customers -- and not the government -- tell the automakers what they want. These are extremely safe vehicles, when driven properly, already.

trabuco canyon, ca

Dear FRONTLINE,

It is stated that SUVs are responsible for 17% of the deaths in rollovers, but it does not say what percentage of vehicles on the road today are SUVs. It is true that with the higher center of gravity the vehicles will have a greater risk of rollover, so one would conclude that better and more alert drivers are needed. That would mean that they might have to put away the cell phone and pay attention to the road. One statistic that would be interesting to see is what is the relation of cell phone use to involvement in accidents, my guess is that is a large underlying cause to many accidents. These distractions could cause the driver to make sudden steering corrections sending vehicles into a rollover.

John McCarthy
oklahoma city, ok

Dear FRONTLINE,

Joan Claybrook and Keith Bradsher are liars. They have manipulated the data to fit their opinions and preconceived bias. Neither Joan Claybrook nor Keith Bradsher are engineers nor do they have a background in science. Please review the information by a real scientist at http://www.cei.org/gencon/027,02350.cfm.

Every bit of data confirms that the more weight that an individual has around them then the safer the person is. The laws of physics cannot be repealed. The reporters and lawyers point to statistics that more people as a percentage die is SUV rollovers than automobiles. Wonder why? It is because they don't die in collisions not involving rollovers.

The opponents of SUVs do not understand physics or the trade offs that comes into play when vehicles are designed. SUVs are designed for towing and hauling large amounts of cargo and people, something passenger cars are no longer able to do. SUVs have a higher center of gravity and yes they will roll over in a greater tendency than cars. SUVs are not sports cars, you do not drive them as you would a Corvette. They do however pass all regulated safety laws. They also have features that help avoid accidents such as higher seating which gives the driver a better field of view and in many cases 4 wheel drive which is a very helpful safety feature when driving in bad weather.

Like it or not, people and businesses have need for larger vehicles. SUVs cannot perform the function they currently have and meet the same fuel economy targets that are set for passenger cars. Believe the engineers and scientists, not the lawyers and the reporters.

Todd Schanz
willis, mi

Dear FRONTLINE,

Number 1. The govt. allowed these huge vehicles to bypass normal emissions, 2- they guzzeled gas like a vacume cleaner. 3- I understand that Ford cleared on each SUV $10,000.00 sold. 4- If other SUV had the same rollover problem that Ford had why was it brought to the attention of the public. 5. They cost so damn much.

I think that in some ways the SUV is nice. Like off the road and not on local streets. I have seen SUV drivers intimadate other drivers on local streets by driving fast..and boring into other lanes. Another problem I have with them is I cant see a dam thing in front of me while driving behind one. SUV are not cars, station wagons or vans....they are damn trucks.

new york, new york

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