The illusion of SUV safety
Discussion
We know the consensus, SUV’s are heavy and their added height allows their structures to override that of cars making them superior in a crash.
Only I think the reality is on the contrary although I confess my opinion comes only from spending a lot of time viewing the Russian dash cam videos in the “s
t driving caught on dashcam thread”.
It seems to me that the overwhelming majority of SUVs in those videos end up rolling over, I mean like 99% of them. It doesn’t matter how slow they are going or what type of collision they have, they all end up rolling.
You don’t see this in NCAP crash tests because the cars are on perfectly flat ground, with no steering applied and in some cases they are stationary.
In the real world however roads have cambers, the suspension / momentum may already be biased if cornering, the speeds are higher and of course there is no telling what angle someone is going to crash into you at.
The result is, I’d rather be in a car. Anyone else?
I’ll leave you with a car vs X5 battle!
http://www.mirror.co.uk/news/uk-news/driver-jailed...
Only I think the reality is on the contrary although I confess my opinion comes only from spending a lot of time viewing the Russian dash cam videos in the “s
t driving caught on dashcam thread”.It seems to me that the overwhelming majority of SUVs in those videos end up rolling over, I mean like 99% of them. It doesn’t matter how slow they are going or what type of collision they have, they all end up rolling.
You don’t see this in NCAP crash tests because the cars are on perfectly flat ground, with no steering applied and in some cases they are stationary.
In the real world however roads have cambers, the suspension / momentum may already be biased if cornering, the speeds are higher and of course there is no telling what angle someone is going to crash into you at.
The result is, I’d rather be in a car. Anyone else?
I’ll leave you with a car vs X5 battle!
http://www.mirror.co.uk/news/uk-news/driver-jailed...
mp3manager said:
Ollie123 said:
I’ll leave you with a car vs X5 battle!
http://www.mirror.co.uk/news/uk-news/driver-jailed...
All I see is crap driving from the X5 driver.http://www.mirror.co.uk/news/uk-news/driver-jailed...
Shirely?
I see many of you failed to read (or understand) my original post or maybe you forgot about it when you were too busy trying to defend your choice of SUV.
For the record I didn't say they were unsafe, I'm sure they are very safe, it's just that in the real world they appear to roll without any effort at all and based on that I would prefer to be in a car.
Some say its a good way of dissipating energy but that's one of the stupidest things I've read on here. Two scenarios: you have a crash and skid 50 yards, or you have a crash and then roll multiple times for 50 yards. You don't need to say which you'd prefer.
Some people have said cars roll easily but that's only true when hitting an immoveable object which is not what I'm talking about here.
Finally the "safer because I can see over cars" comment doesn't hold much water either I don't think, as someone who has driven a 2015 Cayenne S I didn't feel I had any line of sight advantage over traffic. Not only that but there are plenty of vans and trucks on the road which are you bigger than you.
If you want safety go buy a Panamera or something low and wide which ways 2+ ton.
For the record I didn't say they were unsafe, I'm sure they are very safe, it's just that in the real world they appear to roll without any effort at all and based on that I would prefer to be in a car.
Some say its a good way of dissipating energy but that's one of the stupidest things I've read on here. Two scenarios: you have a crash and skid 50 yards, or you have a crash and then roll multiple times for 50 yards. You don't need to say which you'd prefer.
Some people have said cars roll easily but that's only true when hitting an immoveable object which is not what I'm talking about here.
Finally the "safer because I can see over cars" comment doesn't hold much water either I don't think, as someone who has driven a 2015 Cayenne S I didn't feel I had any line of sight advantage over traffic. Not only that but there are plenty of vans and trucks on the road which are you bigger than you.
If you want safety go buy a Panamera or something low and wide which ways 2+ ton.
RumbleOfThunder said:
I see you have failed to read (or understand) peoples points in this thread. Roll overs don't result in certain death, like you would have people believe. Also you're ignoring what happens in vehicle to vehicle collisions (SUV pulverises the smaller, lighter, lower vehicle)
I didn't suggest they result in certain death, in fact I never even mentioned injury I just said they are far to prone to rolling for my liking and based on that fact I'd prefer a car.Also SUV's don't pulverise other vehicles, the benefit of their height has been engineered out by making them more compatible with lower vehicles. The weight difference has also been reduced now that regular cars can weigh about 1800kg, so alls you are left with is a terrible CoG and an extra couple of hundred kilograms.
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