Editing SUV (section)

== Safety ==
{{Further|Criticism of sport utility vehicles}}
[[File:Ford Focus versus Ford Explorer crash test IIHS.jpg|thumb|Side impact damage on a [[Ford Focus]] small car when struck by a [[Ford Explorer]] SUV]]

SUVs typically have high ground clearance and a tall body. This results in a high [[center of mass]], which made SUVs more prone to [[Vehicle rollover|roll-over accidents]].<ref name=CCSThrg/><ref>{{cite web|url= https://www.cnn.com/2019/10/16/cars/volvo-xc40-recharge-electric-car/index.html |title=Volvo's first fully electric car will also be one of its safest cars ever |first=Peter |last=Valdes-Dapena |work=CNN Business |date=16 October 2019 |access-date=30 August 2022}}</ref> In 2003, SUVs were quoted as 2.5 times more likely to roll over in a crash than regular cars and that SUV roofs were more likely to cave in on passengers than in other cars, resulting in increased harm to passengers.<ref name=CCSThrg/><ref>{{cite book|first=Adam |last=Penenberg |title=Tragic Indifference: One Man's Battle with the Auto Industry over the Dangers of SUVs |publisher=HarperBusiness |year=2003 |isbn=0-06-009058-8 |url= https://archive.org/details/tragicindifferen00pene/page/12|page=12}}</ref>

Between 1991 and 2001, the United States saw a 150% increase in sport-utility vehicle rollover deaths. In 2001, though roll-overs constituted just 3% of vehicle crashes overall, they caused over 30% of occupant fatalities in crashes;<ref name=CCSThrg/> and in crashes where the vehicle did roll over, SUV occupants in the early 2000s were nearly three times as likely to be killed as other car passengers.<ref name=CCSThrg>{{cite book|title=SUV safety: issues relating to the safety and design of sport utility vehicles: hearing before the Committee on Commerce, Science, and Transportation |publisher=United States Senate, One Hundred Eighth Congress, first session |url= https://books.google.com/books?id=lZ2ojjLs658C&pg=PA18 |via=Diane Publishing |page=18 |date=2003-02-26 |isbn=9781422334188}}</ref> Vehicles with a high center of gravity do sometimes fail the [[moose test]] of maneuverability conducted by Swedish consumer magazine [[Teknikens Värld]], for example, the 1997 [[Mercedes-Benz A-Class]] and 2011 [[Jeep Grand Cherokee]].<ref>{{cite web|url= https://www.consumerreports.org/cro/news/2012/07/jeep-grand-cherokee-fails-swedish-moose-test-lessons-for-u-s-consumers/index.htm |title=Jeep Grand Cherokee fails Swedish moose test, lessons for U.S. consumers |publisher=Consumer Reports |date=13 July 2012 |access-date=27 August 2020}}</ref>

The increasing popularity of SUVs in the 1990s and early 2000s was partly due to buyers perceiving that SUVs provide greater [[car safety|safety]] for occupants, due to their larger size and raised ride height.<ref name="CCSThrg"/>{{sfn|Bradsher|2002}}<ref>{{cite news|url= http://www.time.com/time/specials/2007/article/0,28804,1658545_1658544,00.html |archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20070913125207/http://www.time.com/time/specials/2007/article/0,28804,1658545_1658544,00.html |url-status= dead |archive-date= 13 September 2007 |magazine=Time|title=The 50 Worst Cars Of All Time |date=2007-09-07|access-date=2010-05-23}}</ref><ref>{{cite journal|first=Robin |last=Croft |year=2006 |title=Folklore, families and fear: understanding consumption decisions through the oral tradition|journal=Journal of Marketing Management |volume=22|issue=9/10|pages=1053–1076|issn=0267-257X |doi=10.1362/026725706778935574 |s2cid=144646252}}</ref> Regarding the safety of other road users, SUVs are exempted from U.S. regulation stating that a passenger car bumper must protect the area between {{convert|16 and 20|in|cm|0}} above the ground. This often increases the damage to the other car in a collision with an SUV, because the impact occurs at a higher location on the other car.<ref>{{cite web|title=When cars and SUVs crash: Bumper mismatch boosts costs|date=2 December 2010|url= https://money.cnn.com/2010/12/02/autos/suv_bumper_mismatch/index.htm |work=CNN |access-date=2019-04-14}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|url= http://www.iihs.org/iihs/topics/t/vehicle-size-and-weight/qanda#vehicle-size-and-weight|title=Q&As – Vehicle size and weight|publisher=Insurance Institute for Highway Safety|location=U.S.|date=April 2018|access-date=2019-02-11}}</ref> In 2000–2001, 60% of fatal side-impact collisions were where the other vehicle was an SUV, an increase from 30% in 1980–1981.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.iihs.org/ratings/side_test_info.html|title=Side-impact crash test program|publisher=Insurance Institute for Highway Safety|url-status=dead|archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20101230065653/http://www.iihs.org/ratings/side_test_info.html|archive-date=2010-12-30}}</ref>

The introduction of [[electronic stability control]] (ESC) and rollover mitigation, as well as increased analysis of the risks of a rollover, led the IIHS to report in 2015 that "the rollover death rate of 5 per million registered vehicle years for 2011 models is less than a quarter of what it was for 2004 models. With ESC dramatically reducing rollover risk, the inherent advantages offered by SUVs' greater size, weight, and height emerge more clearly. Today's SUVs have the lowest driver death rate of any vehicle type."<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.iihs.org/news/detail/improved-vehicle-designs-bring-down-death-rates|title = Improved vehicle designs bring down death rates}}</ref>

The high danger for cyclists and pedestrians of being seriously injured or even killed by SUV drivers has caused some public protests against SUVs in urban areas.<ref>{{cite news|last=Oltermann |first=Philip |date=2019-09-09|title=Berliners call for 4x4 ban after four people killed in collision |work=The Guardian |url= https://www.theguardian.com/world/2019/sep/09/berliners-call-for-suv-ban-after-four-people-killed-in-collision |access-date=2020-05-12|issn=0261-3077}}</ref> In 2020, a study by the U.S.-based [[IIHS]] found that, of a sample of 79 crashes from three urban areas in Michigan, SUVs caused more serious injuries compared to cars when impacts occurred at greater than {{cvt|19|mph|km/h|order=flip|0}}. The IIHS noted the sample size of the study was small and that more research is needed.<ref>{{cite web |url= https://www.iihs.org/news/detail/new-study-suggests-todays-suvs-are-more-lethal-to-pedestrians-than-cars |title=New study suggests today's SUVs are more lethal to pedestrians than cars |publisher=Insurance Institute for Highway Safety |location=US |date=2020-06-16 |access-date=2021-01-16}}</ref> The popularity of SUVs contributed to an increase in pedestrian fatalities in the U.S. during the 2010s, alongside other factors such as distracted and drunk driving.<ref>{{Cite news|url= https://www.theguardian.com/world/2022/nov/22/he-was-fast-he-ran-you-right-over-what-its-like-to-get-hit-by-an-suv |title= 'He was fast … he ran you right over': what it's like to get hit by an SUV |work= [[The Guardian]] |date= 22 November 2022 |access-date= 10 April 2023 |last= Dean |first= Tamara}}</ref>

A 2021 study by the [[University of Illinois Springfield]] showed that SUVs are 8 times more likely to kill children in a collision than passenger cars, and multiple times more lethal to adult pedestrians and cyclists.<ref>{{cite journal |url=https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S0022437522000810 |title= Effects of large vehicles on pedestrian and pedalcyclist injury severity |first1=M. |last1=Edwards |first2=D. |last2=Leonard |date=September 2022 |journal=Journal of Safety Research |volume=82 |pages=275–282 |doi=10.1016/j.jsr.2022.06.005 |pmid=36031254 |s2cid=249860954}}</ref>