SUVs are not safe vehicles

Toggle sidebar Toggle sidebar
yhelothar

yhelothar

Lifer
Dec 11, 2002
18,409
39
91
I just stumbled across this essay about SUV safety. First, I just glanced over it, not expecting to read the entire thing as it's so long, but I found it really intruiging, and ended up reading all of it. It's has many very interesting psychological viewpoints on the way people think, and it compares it with reality.

http://www.gladwell.com/2004/2004_01_12_a_suv.html
 
H

Hammerhead

Platinum Member
Jul 26, 2001
2,297
0
0
If every SUV owner gave up their SUV for big Pick-ups, will that make all the SUV haters happy?
 
yhelothar

yhelothar

Lifer
Dec 11, 2002
18,409
39
91
Originally posted by: IHateMyJob2004
IMHO: A car is as safe as the person controling it.

Not worth reading, and no, I didn't look.
Click to expand...

Yup it's one of the many points of the article.
But I find it worth reading not because of his points about SUVs being unsafe, but on his analyzations on ways people think.
 
G

giantpinkbunnyhead

Diamond Member
Dec 7, 2005
3,251
1
0
Originally posted by: Hammerhead
If every SUV owner gave up their SUV for big Pick-ups, will that make all the SUV haters happy?
Click to expand...

YES!!! THen at least I could see the damn aisle when trying to back out of a parking spot. I already sit high enough in my truck and I still can't see jack when backing out if an SUV is parked next to me.

/rant
 
H

Hammerhead

Platinum Member
Jul 26, 2001
2,297
0
0
Originally posted by: giantpinkbunnyhead
Originally posted by: Hammerhead
If every SUV owner gave up their SUV for big Pick-ups, will that make all the SUV haters happy?
Click to expand...

YES!!! THen at least I could see the damn aisle when trying to back out of a parking spot. I already sit high enough in my truck and I still can't see jack when backing out if an SUV is parked next to me.

/rant
Click to expand...

how about minivans. if it's all about not being able to see, minivans are the same size, but i don't hear people b!tching about minivans
 
G

giantpinkbunnyhead

Diamond Member
Dec 7, 2005
3,251
1
0
Originally posted by: Hammerhead
Originally posted by: giantpinkbunnyhead
Originally posted by: Hammerhead
If every SUV owner gave up their SUV for big Pick-ups, will that make all the SUV haters happy?
Click to expand...

YES!!! THen at least I could see the damn aisle when trying to back out of a parking spot. I already sit high enough in my truck and I still can't see jack when backing out if an SUV is parked next to me.

/rant
Click to expand...

how about minivans. if it's all about not being able to see, minivans are the same size, but i don't hear people b!tching about minivans
Click to expand...

As soon as they make minivans as high and long as many of the SUV's, then I'll wholeheartedly agree. While the vans block my vision too, they usually don't stick out as far or stand as high and I can at least somewhat see around them. But I do bitch about minivans for other reasons... they're just plain ugly!

 
L

lyssword

Diamond Member
Dec 15, 2005
5,630
25
91
Originally posted by: giantpinkbunnyhead
Originally posted by: Hammerhead
Originally posted by: giantpinkbunnyhead
Originally posted by: Hammerhead
If every SUV owner gave up their SUV for big Pick-ups, will that make all the SUV haters happy?
Click to expand...

YES!!! THen at least I could see the damn aisle when trying to back out of a parking spot. I already sit high enough in my truck and I still can't see jack when backing out if an SUV is parked next to me.

/rant
Click to expand...

how about minivans. if it's all about not being able to see, minivans are the same size, but i don't hear people b!tching about minivans
Click to expand...

As soon as they make minivans as high and long as many of the SUV's, then I'll wholeheartedly agree. While the vans block my vision too, they usually don't stick out as far or stand as high and I can at least somewhat see around them. But I do bitch about minivans for other reasons... they're just plain ugly!
Click to expand...

Because minivans are just slightly larger wagons, and are lower to the ground, consume less fuel and actually able to carry more stuff inside than most suv's. I wouldn't mind people with SUV where they actually need them, with bad road condition out in country where there's no pavement etc, go go offroad. But in large cities, common, they don't need their 4x4..
 
shortylickens

shortylickens

No Lifer
Jul 15, 2003
80,287
17,081
136
Originally posted by: virtualgames0
I just stumbled across this essay about SUV safety. First, I just glanced over it, not expecting to read the entire thing as it's so long, but I found it really intruiging, and ended up reading all of it. It's has many very interesting psychological viewpoints on the way people think, and it compares it with reality.

http://www.gladwell.com/2004/2004_01_12_a_suv.html
Click to expand...
I dont even have to look at it and I can tell you what it says.
Something about how people would rather feel safe than be safe?
Am I right?
 
H

Hammerhead

Platinum Member
Jul 26, 2001
2,297
0
0
Originally posted by: giantpinkbunnyhead
Originally posted by: Hammerhead
Originally posted by: giantpinkbunnyhead
Originally posted by: Hammerhead
If every SUV owner gave up their SUV for big Pick-ups, will that make all the SUV haters happy?
Click to expand...

YES!!! THen at least I could see the damn aisle when trying to back out of a parking spot. I already sit high enough in my truck and I still can't see jack when backing out if an SUV is parked next to me.

/rant
Click to expand...

how about minivans. if it's all about not being able to see, minivans are the same size, but i don't hear people b!tching about minivans
Click to expand...

As soon as they make minivans as high and long as many of the SUV's, then I'll wholeheartedly agree. While the vans block my vision too, they usually don't stick out as far or stand as high and I can at least somewhat see around them. But I do bitch about minivans for other reasons... they're just plain ugly!
Click to expand...

The nissan quest (a minivan) is longer and wider than a ford explorer or a chevy trailblazer.:roll:
You say that the main reason you b!tch about minivans is that they're ugly. Would it make you feel better if they made them look nicer...hmmm, maybe like an SUV?
 
D

dwcal

Senior member
Jul 21, 2004
765
0
0
Originally posted by: Hammerhead
If every SUV owner gave up their SUV for big Pick-ups, will that make all the SUV haters happy?
Click to expand...

Pickups aren't yuppie status items so that won't happen. They're too much of a prole's vehicle for the fashion victims. A 2WD pickup is also possibly the worst possible vehicle for bad weather. No traction with an empty bed. I almost had a truck stuck in a downhill facing parking spot because it didn't have enough traction to reverse out. This was on a dry, paved street. Pickup owners more often buy their trucks for the practical reasons that SUV owners use to justify their purchases.
 
H

Hammerhead

Platinum Member
Jul 26, 2001
2,297
0
0
Originally posted by: dwcal
Originally posted by: Hammerhead
If every SUV owner gave up their SUV for big Pick-ups, will that make all the SUV haters happy?
Click to expand...

Pickup owners more often buy their trucks for the practical reasons that SUV owners use to justify their purchases.
Click to expand...

How many people who buy sports cars actually race their cars?
 
D

dwcal

Senior member
Jul 21, 2004
765
0
0
Originally posted by: Hammerhead
Originally posted by: her209
Its the smugness that annoys me.
Click to expand...

Oh, you don't get the same "smugness from people driving their tiny BMW roadsters?
Click to expand...

It's a different, more dangerous kind of smugness. In a BMW roadster it's "I'm better than you". In an SUV it's "I'm better than you, and I drive this indestructible tank, so I don't have to pay attention to the road. Get out of my way".
 
C

clickynext

Platinum Member
Dec 24, 2004
2,583
0
0
It's more about whether people really need the car they drive. I think it's safe to say that most SUV drivers don't actually need anything bigger than a regular car, while a much greater proportion of minivan drivers and truck drivers actually need their vehicles.
 
her209

her209

No Lifer
Oct 11, 2000
56,336
11
0
Originally posted by: dwcal
It's a different, more dangerous kind of smugness. In a BMW roadster it's "I'm better than you". In an SUV it's "I'm better than you, and I drive this indestructible tank, so I don't have to pay attention to the road. Get out of my way".
Click to expand...
"I'm so cool in my SUV that I must talk to my friends on my cell phone at all times while operating my SUV. Ummm... smug."
 
H

Hammerhead

Platinum Member
Jul 26, 2001
2,297
0
0
Originally posted by: clickynext
It's more about whether people really need the car they drive. I think it's safe to say that most SUV drivers don't actually need anything bigger than a regular car, while a much greater proportion of minivan drivers and truck drivers actually need their vehicles.
Click to expand...

...and people who drive sports cars really need to go 120 mph to get to work
 
JulesMaximus

JulesMaximus

No Lifer
Jul 3, 2003
74,580
982
126
Originally posted by: IHateMyJob2004
IMHO: A car is as safe as the person controling it.

Not worth reading, and no, I didn't look.
Click to expand...

Yeah, and 90% of the people who drive SUVs don't know how to control one in an emergency situation.

Your point is moot.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.

TRENDING THREADS

COMPANY
RESOURCES
FOLLOW
Top Bottom