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Accident Reconstruction News Article UPDATE 2-U.S. says SUV rollover ratings improving WASHINGTON, June 22 (Reuters) - Car manufacturers are doing a better job designing sport utility vehicles to resist rollover accidents, U.S. safety regulators said on Wednesday. Popular SUVs have earned increasingly high marks in government rollover test ratings over the last four years, the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) said. "We have seen a dramatic increase in rollover resistance," NHTSA Administrator Jeffrey Runge told reporters at a briefing. The number of SUVs with a four-star rollover rating out of a possible five stars grew from just one in 2001 to 24 in newly released rollover test results for 2005 model year vehicles, NHTSA said. Among the SUVs that improved to a four-star rating in the last two years were the four-wheel drive versions of General Motors Corp.'s (GM.N: Quote, Profile, Research) Chevrolet Trailblazer and DaimlerChrysler's (DCX.N: Quote, Profile, Research) (DCXGn.DE: Quote, Profile, Research) Jeep Grand Cherokee. For 2005 model year vehicles tested, the highest rated SUV was Ford Motor Co.'s (F.N: Quote, Profile, Research) Freestyle 4x4, earning 4-stars with a 13 percent chance of rollover if involved in a single-vehicle crash. The Freestyle, a crossover vehicle that combines SUV and station wagon styling with a car-like ride, matches DaimlerChrysler's 2005 Pacifica, a carry-over vehicle from 2004, which also earned four stars and a 13 percent chance of rollover during 2004 model year testing. The agency's report was met with skepticism from watchdog group Public Citizen, which questioned whether auto makers really were addressing the rollover problem. The group's president, former NHTSA administrator Joan Claybrook, said NHTSA's ratings were artificially inflated by a new rollover testing regime the agency put in place last year. She pointed out that one of the SUVs tested, the Chevrolet Equinox, got a four-star rating even though it tipped onto two wheels during NHTSA driving tests. Rollovers represent only a small fraction of crashes on U.S. roads but a quarter of all traffic deaths. NHTSA has projected that 10,296 Americans were killed in rollover accidents in 2004. Of those, 2,821 were in SUVs, an increase of nearly 7 percent over the previous year, according the agency. Runge attributed much of the improved scores to the recent introduction of "crossover" vehicles, which are styled more like station wagons and tend to have lower centers of gravity. "We think that the manufacturers have really responded in really commendable ways to our need to do something about rollover deaths and injuries," Runge said. But Runge said it will take many years before the improved rollover ratings translate into fewer deaths because it takes about 25 years for the U.S. fleet to turn over. "Vehicles that got one star or two stars are going to be around for a long time," Runge said. Runge said regulators are still concerned about continuing rollover problems with pick-up trucks. Ratings for those vehicles have not improved like those of SUVs, and they are increasingly popular among young drivers. It's harder for manufacturers to make design changes to pick-ups because they're designed to be work vehicles, he said. "We're going to have to rely on the manufacturers to think about that and to try to figure out what they can do to these vehicles technologically to improve their performance without harming the utility of pickup trucks," Runge said. ### |
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