Buying an SUV for Its Safety?
If you’re thinking of buying an SUV to keep your children safe, think twice.
When the SUV craze first hit the nation, people everywhere were buying them. Touting safety, these mammoth vehicles usually come equipped with 4-wheel drive and other safety features that make parents feel secure. However, if you’re thinking of buying an SUV because you think it’s safer than a car, you’d better think twice.
Higher Risk of Rollover Negates Benefits
So why isn’t the SUV on the dealers lot no safer than a much lighter weight car? Because of that SUV’s rollover risk. It’s no secret that SUVs have a much higher rollover rate than regular cars. While it’s true that some SUVs have a higher risk than other SUVs, the fact of the matter is that almost every SUV has some risk of rollover.
The Risk of Injury Increases
Not only is an SUV no safer than a car, the chances of serious injury increase when an accident involves an SUV. In fact, research shows that a child who is properly restrained in an SUV accident has twice the risk of being seriously injured than a child in a regular car. If the child isn’t restrained at all, that risk jumps to twenty five times the chance of being seriously injured.