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SUV Safety
Deadline Nears for S.U.V. Crash Compliance
There won’t be any public celebrations, but Sept. 1 is a small and contentious landmark in automotive safety. It is the deadline for the auto industry to voluntarily make S.U.V.’s and pickups less deadly in frontal and side-impact collisions with passenger cars.
Despite Defect, G.M. Keeps Selling S.U.V.
November 23, 2004By DANNY HAKIM
New York Times
DETROIT, Nov. 22 – Joram Rauchwerger, a 56-year-old postal worker in Tulsa, Okla., recently broke his 22-year-old vow never to buy another car made by General Motors. To say the least, he regrets the decision.
Safety Gap Grows Wider Between S.U.V.’s and Cars
August 17, 2004
By DANNY HAKIM
New York Times
DETROIT, Aug. 16 – The gap in safety between sport utility vehicles and passenger cars last year was the widest yet recorded, according to new federal traffic data.
People driving or riding in a sport utility vehicle in 2003 were nearly 11 percent more likely to die in an accident than people in cars, the figures show. The government began keeping detailed statistics on the safety of vehicle categories in 1994.
Backer of Rollover Tests Disputes Results
By Harry Stoffer
Automotive News / June 14, 2004
What They Said: Reaction
The Detroit News
4/13/04
“We have to tackle this problem. That’s not me being hysterical. That’s me looking at the data.â€
Jeffrey Runge
NHTSA director
Options Exist for Stronger Roofs
Structural foam, high-strength steel would absorb impact, create ‘simple fix,’ some say.
Here are some ways automakers could bolster vehicle roof strength:
* High-strength steel. Alloys can add strength without weight, but tend to be costlier.
* Structural foam. Cheap and well-known, keeps beams from bending.
* Automaker options
* Reinforced pillars. Makes them stronger during a crash.
New SUV Safety Rules Test Automakers
Sunday, May 25, 2003
NHTSA’s aggressive effort to prevent rollovers could force costly design changes
In the Debate on S.U.V.’s, There’s a New Casualty Count
March 2, 2003
By DANNY HAKIM
New York Times
DETROIT — What makes one automobile safer than another? This used to be a simple question. Regulators looked at collision data. If more people tended to die while riding in Vehicle X than in Vehicle Y, then Vehicle Y was safer. In the 1970’s, the government added crash testing to study how cars did in different kinds of collisions.
Sport Utility Vehicles Pose a Danger to All
Yes: Regulators must address rollovers, SUV mismatch in crashes with cars
The Detroit News
Sunday, March 2, 2003
By Ben Kelley
In the world of compassionate conservatism as defined by President George W. Bush, is there room for a regulator who is willing to attack the auto industry for deliberately making and selling unsafe cars?