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Originally Posted by theburner
Long story short, I will ALWAYS own an SUV for the safety. This just made me realize that they are safer than cars. Yes, the environment, pollution.. yada yada yada. My families safety comes first.
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SUV's are not safer than cars. Ever. Period. If you want safety, you want a car. SUV's have greater rollover risk.
I know that your truck took the brunt of the impact, but then I got T-boned by an explorer while driving an old civic hatchback, it caved in the side of my car, and I walked away with nothing more than a bump on the head where I hit it on the door and a cut on my shoulder where the seatbelt dug into me as it was holding me in.
In other words, any decent vehicle will protect you in a crash like that.
There are some studies that suggest the higher rigidity of a truck frame results in greater transferral of impact to the driver than what you see in a more crushable car frame, btw.
As to the overall argument, I think SUV's have their place. I use one myself as a news vehicle and I'd hate to use anything different - it's got the room I need for my masses of camera gear and it's got the 4x4 offroad capability to get that gear where I need it.
On the other hand, I also think SUV's are the latest penis extenders for our society. People who don't need them are getting them so they can feel like they're macho out on the highways, then they drive like jackasses because they feel that "bigger has the right of way" applies to land vehicles, and not just boats.