Why You Should Reconsider Before Buying a SUV

How many times have you been on the road and been cut off by an SUV driver who was totally unaware of your existence? It’s an everyday occurrence for people who are driving small cars. SUV’s, especially the larger ones, give drivers a feeling like they are above everyone else around them (they literally are) and will in fact make it seem like they’re the only ones on the road. It’s a nice feeling of liberation and freedom for the driver of the vehicle, but the risk to those around other people start to increase. Unless they’re taken to the country with off road tires and beadlock wheels, it has to be acknowledged that SUV’s are not a safe way to drive.

It was some time in th1980’s when a trend of using off-road vehicles to move through the city and suburbs started to rise in popularity. This trend was of course encouraged by the car makers themselves, who sold the SUV with the notion that it was a much safer choice for families, and a much more stylish choice than buying a van.

One advertisement, in particular, was indicative of the American way of thinking about SUV’s. The ad showed images of a normal sedan and an SUV crashing into each other. The SUV finished the crash relatively in one piece, while the other car was totally demolished. Then the advertisement asked something to the effect of, “If you care about your family, shouldn’t you get an SUV?” The ad caused sales of larger vehicles to skyrocket, as people began to see SUV’s as the safer choice for driving out on the road. But you may have noted in the above advertisement what so many drivers appeared to miss. While the SUV is clearly safe to be in during such an accident, having such a large heavy object crash into them greatly increases the risk to the other car. While driving SUV’s make the road seemingly safer for those within the vehicle, people in smaller cars on the road will be put in more and more danger.

This did not stop those who wanted SUV’s, from buying one, and the “soccer mom” fashion was created. But there’s another factor not often thought of that makes the SUV far less trustworthy than imagined, their tipping danger. Due to their design, SUV’s are much more likely to tip over when twisting sharply at high speed. Numerous experiments have been done to show that SUVs can by no means be thought of as safe when they can flip so easily.

While these issues have been addressed to some extent by car manufacturers, the SUV can still not be trusted as a totally safe vehicle. Before you make a purchase of any car, look up the safety records that have been produced from independent companies (not the car manufactures webpage) to see how safe it really is to have an SUV. Don’t believe the salesman who tells you there’s nothing wrong with taking a car double the height of anything else on the road.