SUV's and safety.(Memo To Members)(Editorial)

Consumers Union has provided the public with objective information about cars since 1936. One of the most frequently asked questions from our readers is still: How do I buy the safest car for my family?

Last month, CONSUMER REPORTS rated the 2001 Mitsubishi Montero Limited Not Acceptable after it tipped up severely in our short-course emergency-avoidance maneuver test, which gauges a vehicle's handling limits as it is steered around an obstacle in the road. The 2001 Montero Limited is only the third vehicle out of 118 we have tested on the short course to tip up so severely in our handling test that we rated it Not Acceptable. Notably, the other vehicles were SUVs, too. Indeed, real-world experience--and CU's own thorough testing--show that SUVs, with their higher center of gravity, are more susceptible to rolling over than vehicles with a lower center of gravity, such as most sedans.

CU believes that three things must happen to reduce such unnecessary risk.

Government action. Following years of petitions, comments, and testimony by CU and others, the government may finally provide meaningful data on the emergency-handling characteristics of different vehicles. Last October, Congress directed the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) to develop and implement a dynamic rollover test by November 2002. This would use actual on-road testing to evaluate how vehicles handle during emergency maneuvers.

Since January, NHTSA has rated the stability of some models, including certain SUVs, based on static measurements of their center of gravity and track width--the distance between the tires on the same axle. This system, called the Rollover Resistance Rating, is a step in the right direction, but we consider it simplistic. It isn't based on a dynamic test, and it can't account for what could be critical differences in emergency handling caused by suspension design, tires, steering response, or the presence of a stability-control system. For some two decades, CU and other organizations have called for a dynamic rollover test--based on a ...