Dulaney, Lauer & Thomas Blog

Rollover risks – how safe is your SUV?

SUV manufacturers have made great improvements to vehicle safety in the last few years.  Perhaps the most impressive safety feature to have debuted is Electronic Stability Control (ESC) also known as vehicle stability control.  This is a computer-assisted safety feature that helps prevent vehicles from skidding out of control, which often happens if a driver over-corrects or swerves too hard.  According to NHTSA estimates, ESC may prevent 71 percent of the passenger car rollovers and 84 percent of the SUV rollovers that would otherwise occur in single vehicle crashes.

Another important safety feature added in recent years to many SUVs are side curtain airbags.  These help protect drivers and passengers in an accident, and in a rollover they can help reduce injury and the risk of ejection from the vehicle.  ESC will be mandatory on all new vehicles in 2012, side curtain airbags in 2013.

These are great safety features, but if you are unlucky enough to actually roll your SUV, you might be depending on one often overlooked feature:  roof strength.  To date, auto manufacturers have claimed that there is no proven link between roof strength and occupant safety, and they have resisted calls to increase the strength of all SUV roofs.  However, a recent IIHS study debunks this myth, and claims that there is a clear correlation between roof strength and occupant safety.  The results of this study were just released by IIHS this month, so it remains to be seen how the auto industry will react.  Perhaps there will be a new mandatory safety feature added to the federal government’s list?

You can read more about the IIHS study and SUV rollover safety in our library article, “Are Manufacturers Taking the Threat of Rollovers Seriously Enough?”

Do you drive an SUV?  Have you been compelled to purchase a newer vehicle in order to take advantage of the latest safety features?  Leave us a comment and let us know.

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