NYT: Gains Seen in Redesign of S.U.V.'s (fewer deaths in other vehicles)

[DeepModem Mom]

Gains Seen in Redesign of S.U.V.'s
By JEREMY W. PETERS
Published: February 3, 2006


DETROIT, Feb. 2 — Design changes that automakers initially resisted and then reluctantly adopted have sharply reduced the number of deaths among drivers of cars struck by a sport utility vehicle or pickup, according to results from the first study of the standards.

The study, by the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety, using data from the auto industry and the federal government, found that in side-impact collisions the number of deaths fell by nearly half when automakers lowered S.U.V.'s by as little as half an inch or equipped them with hollow impact-absorbing bars below the front and rear bumpers.

The changes are intended to reduce the frequency of S.U.V.'s and pickups' sliding over cars' doorsills and bumpers and piercing deep into cars' passenger compartments.

The changes also reduced by a fifth the risk that an S.U.V. would kill a belted car driver in a frontal collision. The same changes in pickups produced smaller but still significant safety gains. Not since the air bag has a safety standard been so effective in saving lives, experts say.

"To cut somebody's risk of death in half, that's huge," said Ricardo Martinez, the top auto safety regulator during the Clinton administration. "That's almost as good as seat belts. You're lucky if a new regulation gets you a 5 or 10 percent reduction in the death rate."...


http://www.nytimes.com/2006/02/03/business/03auto.html?_r=1&oref=login

[Marie26]

1. Here's a good way to improve SUV safety

Stop making them.

[Javaman]

4. They will, because the makers are loosing money hand over fist..

as gas prices are going up. The era of the urban family assaut train car is ending and not soon enough.

[Kagemusha]

2. This is just utterly, completely damning.

It makes the resistance by automakers look downright malicious and cruel. I mean, they really fought this hard, and look at the results. I'm disgusted reading this.

[tanyev]

3. There'll be even fewer deaths when their owners can no longer

afford to put fuel in the big behemoths.