...interesting article. Really shows you what the automakers are thinking more than the SUV drivers... http://www.washingtonmonthly.com/features/2001/0212.mencimer.html
Yeah...right, ok then, whatever.... "Come here honey LOOK! The Jones' have purchased a vehicle that can endanger more motorists than ours can!" "I'll be danged if I'm going to let them one up us!" "We'll show them who can wreak (sp?) more havoc on the roads! Let's go buy that Escalade, no wait! A Hummvee, that oughta do it." Does that mean the person who buys a Geo Metro is a selfless individual who gives their life, so that SUV driver's may live?:laugh:
Well, I guess that maybe we should sell our SUV and start trailering GSs across the country with Honda Hybrids. Personally, I don't see the use in buying an economy car other than for that reason. Some people buy cars to get from point A to point B. Others take pride in what they drive, they buy something that they would take a trip in or that is useful to them. We have a rather large family, and take road trips once or twice a year (sometimes pulling a trailer). Environmentalists are running out of things to fight for, so they are going to go for the flagships like the Excursion, etc. I could go on about this all day, but the Excursion is nothing more than an F250 with a camper shell and an extra seat, and the F250 is an excellent all around truck. But, because it looks like an "SUV" even though there is nothing sport about it, they will kill it saying it is too big and inefficent. Maybe we should do away with trucks too? They are useless right? Whatever. When they make an "economy car" that will pull a 7000 lb trailer, and has room enough for 5 people to travel 13 hours comfortably, then maybe I will rethink my feelings. Sorry, but I just had to vent on this one. I wish they would quit their bickering and let people buy and drive what they want to.
Where did they find the 8,000 pound Chevy Tahoe that they talk about in the article? Our Tahoes around here don't weigh that much.uzzled:
Have to account for the extra weight of the Ego's On the saftey thing.... there is a concern that they arn't as safe as believed. On the sterotyping of the owners..... :blast: :blast: :blast: :moonu: :moonu: he has no right to blatenly insult people that he doesn't know. He himself must have some Ego issues:gt:
Can't haul my camp trailer, car trailer, Buick parts, firewood, etc. in a Yugo/Honda/Cavalier. Civic responsibility my rear end! See what all the do-gooders show up in when they have a rally... Suburbans and Excursions. Kinda like that cow Rosy pushing gun control while she's surrounded by security fences and armed guards.. don't EVEN get me going.:blast: Flippin' HYPROCRITES! 1993 Chevrolet K2500 1-ton 4x4 6-passenger BB 454 GAS HOG Suburban with 157,000 miles, rubber floor mats, no power anything. It's a TRUCK, not an SUV. I'll go out in a blaze of :blast: if they try to take it from me. Holier-than-thou Liberal IDJITS:moonu: :moonu: :af:
Lawmakers are hardly interested in taking SUV's away, there's no money in that. Insurance companies *will* eventually harp on the stats as an excuse to raise rates... (when would you ever lower them?) The worry I see here is that this is really how the automakers see thier customers. Dumb, greedy, unsophisticated trend-followers. If that's really the case then it'll be seriously reflect in the products they produce (read: AZTEC). Things can only go downhill.
What a crock! SUV's are only dangerous because of the moron behind the wheel. Get off the cell phone, leave your coffee mug at home and concentrate on your skills/abilities as a driver and watch the accident rate go down. The morons just happen to like SUV's now but if a Yugo was the hot tip for them we would be reading about how unsafe they are. Okay maybe Yugo isn't such a good example. :laugh: The bottom line in most crashes is driver error, not what they happen to be driving , but of course its always better to put the blame on something that can't vote isn't it?
Well said Dave!!:TU: 'Most' accidents are avoidable if you really think about it. Like you said, it all comes down to the driver and their ability to pay attention!
And they talk like the SUVs are the devil of the road and they kill everyone. If you don't want to die in a small car being hit by an SUV, then buy something that sits higher! It's everyone's choice what they want to drive, and they can suffer the consequences. I don't bicker at everyone else and try to get law changed because my 455 gets 7 MPG, why should we do away with some cars because they mangle others in an accident? Maybe Semi's are too big to be on the road and we need to shut down Peterbilt's plant...? You think this crackhead writing the article drives a Geo? Probably not...
i really don't care how overboard the article goes, i can't believe you guys are defending SUV's. so what if you haul with yours, the majority of the SUV's on the road are driven by idiots with little...well, i won't go there. i've driven them before and anyone who says they're not a danger to normal motorists has some kind of mental deficiency. you can't see, you can't handle, and if you hit someone in a lincoln navigator or such at any decent speed, they will die. if they're marketed as 'all-terrain', then they should get off the road. oh, they get stuck in a puddle, you say? whoops, looks like something is useless and should be wiped out of existence, imo. and i harbor the same opinion for pickups that look like tall limosines. call me a dick, but when you drive as little as i do and STILL have constant near-misses with these people-who, contrary to the article usually drive alone in their land-locked houseboats....you get angry fast.
that is absolutely rediculous. so, becuase someone has to drive their gigantic worthless vehicle, EVERYONE should be forced to buy one? oh, so i can't afford a new luxury bus...i just DESERVE to be killed by a vehicle that is a danger in the most capable hands, let alone in the hands of someone that can't drive, anyway.... and truckers have to attend a SCHOOL to drive something with a PURPOSE, and do it RESPONSIBLY.i personally can't remember the last time a semi tailgated me and went through traffic like a ferrari on the autobahn.
I'm not going to pick a fight with you David, but I think it is pretty safe to say that there is a purpose behind many SUVs. Lumping all SUVs and their drivers together is just as bad as lumping mopar guys together, or chevy guys together, or ford guys together. I'm not saying that everyone who has an SUV should have one, and I'm not saying that all of those driving small cars should buy a bigger one. But everyone has a right to drive what they want, and trying to take that away isn't right. I guess you don't ever plan on owning a boat, or a trailer of some sort, or hauling dirt to redo your front yard, or moving hay out to pasture, or loading up the 4 wheeler to go hunting, or taking a long road trip with 6 people, or going out to the ranch for the weekend, etc, etc. But to call them worthless is about as one sided as it gets. I guess someone should take my trucks away, because I can't drive them and I'm a danger to everyone on the road. In fact, take my cars away too, because we all know that car guys are notoriously old-car advocates and we should be crushing those clunkers . Whatever, I'm not going to try and make any enemies here, I just can't stand being lumped into a group of people 'who can't drive and are a danger to others on the road'. I guess this thread got a little out of hand, or at least it did on my part. I'm not trying to be the bad guy, but don't like being stereotyped. I'm getting off my soapbox now.
don't want to pick a fight, either...but everyone has a right to drive what they want? so if i want to drive a ford pinto, that's ethical? i mean, so what if some innocent bystanders get incinerated, this is america! but that's just my opinion. and i didn't say you couldn't drive, i simply said it didn't matter. when your car is 7 feet tall, 7 feet wide, and 20 feet long...well, i won't go into it. just becuase YOU are responsible doesn't mean everyone else is...if i have a gun safe and a bucket of trigger locks for myself, does that mean we should remove gun laws for EVERYONE? nah, this is america, where one person ruins it for everyone.:gt:
I'm not defending SUVs nor am I condemning them or any other vehicle on the road. Back in the early 70's the "muscle car" was killed by high insurance rates and ultimately high fuel prices. Those higher insurance rates came about because of the high claims costs ... lots of accidents caused by mostly younger inexperienced DRIVERS with lots of power at their right foot and lack of brains on how to use it. Where would we be at today if those "muscle cars" never got built because the "government" mandated that everyone should drive small economy cars? I remember reading an article in an old magazine ( mid 1970's) on a government sponsored "safe car". This thing was ugly as heck, didn't have the power to get out of its own way, and would cost an unbelievable amount of money to produce. Boring! I also remember a number of years ago when 60 Minutes did an "expose" on the Jeep CJ. If I recall it correctly they got the Jeep going straight at about 60 MPH and then cranked the steering wheel hard and guess what? It rolled! The Jeep was then called "unsafe" Really? If you took your average car and tried to drive off road you wouldn't get very far would you? Vehicles are all designed for different uses and intelligent people buy vehicles for their intended usage, not to impress their neighbors and friends or because its the latest trend. The reason you don't see heavy trucks causing a lot of crashes is that the DRIVER is a trained professional in a highly regulated industry. Yes there are some bad truckers out there but they are slowly being weeded out. Many times you hear of serious crashes involving trucks in which the truck driver walks away so yes, we should all trade up to Peterbilts so we can be safe? I personally have no need for a large gas guzzling SUV but if I needed or wanted one ( or could afford one) I would be first in line to buy. I also personally think those who have no use for an SUV for hauling ,towing and the like look pretty stupid driving one to the beauty salon but if it makes them feel better about themselves, who cares? Back to my original point, I still say that the lack of skills/abilities of the average driver is the big issue here but the sad fact remains that if a bad driver in a Honda Civic blows a stop sign and T- bones your Tahoe, you'll be safer in the Tahoe than in a Civic getting broadsided by a Tahoe. So I guess if you're a bad driver, buy the biggest SUV you can, after all why improve your driving if you can just buy a bigger SUV than the next guy. Sorry I'm rambling again.
Although SUVs seem to be a status symbol for some people, I have a hypothesis that they fill a niche that was left open when the full-size cars got smaller. I remember my father putting sheets of 4 x 8 plywood in the trunk of an old 60-something Chevy, seating 6 people comfortably, etc. CAFE also makes it easier for an SUV, rather than a "car", to be large and comfy. I agree, its the driver, not the vehicle. I also think our driving requirements should be more stringent, and the education be more involved. (The test should also require demonstration of knowing how to check and add fluids, jump-start, and change a tire :grin: Just a pet peeve.) As for a small car in an accident with an SUV, well, consider a small car versus one of our old Buicks, or practically anything from the muscle car era. Any large vehicle can do damage, I think the SUV is getting blame b/c it is popular. A couple years after getting my Skylark a 16-year-old stopped her parent's van with my car - didn't even see me. (I was doing 25 and she backed out of a driveway. No one was hurt, I didn't get angry, and their insurance fixed it. (I'd have been angry if it was an older, more experienced driver.)) I only needed front sheet metal and such. In just about any modern mid-sized car I'd probably have been hurt. I don't see anyone blaming the economy or profit margins for increased injury in the same way they go after SUVs.
Heres something for you to consider brblx and any others who complain about the size of SUVs . SUVS havent changed in size since their introduction, they are the same , the other vehicles HAVE GOTTEN SMALLER!!!, that is not the fault of the SUVs manufacturer or owner . Consider this take a 1965 Chevy Suburban and park it next to a 2002 Chevy Suburban,both pretty much the same size. Then take a 1965 Malibu and park it next to a 2002 Malibu, which one has shrunk over the years ??? Now because the Malibu is downsized from 65 , we HAVE to downsize the Suburban too???? I dont think so ... thats ridiculous !!! I agree with some of the others on here if your uncomfortable traveling in traffic in your car because of the SUVs , then step up to the plate and change the size of YOUR CAR , NOT MINE :Smarty:. I have mine the size I do for a reason (whether you approve of my reason or not is immaterial) and if your uncomfortable with that, then youve got the problem that needs to be attended to. Why does the answer to one persons problem always have to be make everybody else change ????? People that bitch about the size of SUVs kinda remind of the old saying "Im fine , the rest of the world is crazy" Dan
I don't have a problem with SUV's, it's the people driving them like a newer model Z28 or something, they think there a damm sports car for gods sake, I mean give me a brake they want to ride your bumper at 50mph(in a 35 zone) like 30 feet is going to get them somewhere faster.......how about on snow there just great till they have to stop then they have as many wheels braking as i do........look on the news after a snowstorm the ones you see flipped over are the SUV'S.......
geesh Being a SUV owner I feel totally insulted by that guys article. I don't own a cell phone, I don't apply makeup while driving, I don't eat in my truck, and I don't drive like a maniac. I'm not out to kill innocent people when I get behind the wheel of any car. I don't feel that my SUV is a danger on the road. You got gramma driving 10 MPH in the fast lane in her Malibu. You have MR. Executive holding a board meeting in his Lincoln. You have beauty queens in their convertibles trying to keep their hair outta their eyes and worrying about how good they look. You've got 10 teenage boys squooze into a Sunfire with the seats all the way back and all you can see is the tippy top of their heads and all you can hear is the Bass of their "thumping" sound system. You've got ricers zipping in and out of traffic, cuz they saw the movie "fast and furious" last night and now they think they are invinsible. Mr. King DUI who's been in jail and out and is now driving on NO LICENSE or a work only permit. Mr. I'm-on-a-suicide mission because my girlfriend left me, who doesn't care about his life let alone the life of other innocent people. Or how about Mr. and Mrs. NO INSURANCE, who don't think its necessary to carry insurance since they KNOW they won't wreck. All these stupid people and you are gonna worry about me ( a mother of two, no accidents since I got my driving permit 18 years ago, no traffic violations what so ever in 18 years, a driver that pays attention and follows most of the laws) because I drive a Rotten, Dirty, and Evil SUV? Those are the reasons for deadly accidents. If my SUV comes up behind them and they slam on their brakes cuz they weren't paying attention, is that my SUV's fault? I think not. SUV's are victims to the idiots on the road just like everything else. If you run into the side of me or if you rear end me and you get hurt...is it my fault? Darn those SUV's. Wouldn't have been so much damage had I run into a much smaller car... My lease is up in March, will I lease another SUV? I don't know. I haven't decided what I want to drive for the next three years. But I can tell you this....after having mine for the last 3 years, I'm accident free still. (knock knock on wood)
