Are SUVs necessarily safer for their occupants than smaller cars?
No. Many argue that the incompatibility between SUVs and cars, which is the cause of many highway deaths each year, is offset by the safety provided to SUV drivers in a crash. Unfortunately, for the SUV occupant, this is often untrue. Even the auto industry will concede that SUVs are more dangerous in rollover crashes. According to the government, SUVs are three times more likely to kill their occupants in rollovers than cars.18 While these crashes are relatively rare, casualties from them are not – rollovers account for two thirds of all SUV occupant deaths. SUV rollovers accounted for 53 percent of the increase in traffic fatalities in 2002. And, children are particularly at risk in these crashes as SUVs have the highest rate of rollover-related child fatalities of any vehicle. Furthermore, it is also a misconception that bigger vehicles are always safer. For example, Chevy Blazers have a far higher driver fatality rate (122 driver deaths per million 1997-2001 models sold) than mid-s
