Many modern SUVs are nothing like their predecessors.
The hybrid SUVs are quite safe. Many have a unibody construction, not the bolt-on-a-frame build criticized by the author of the article, all-wheel drive, ABS brakes, and sophisticated traction control systems that transmit power to each of the four wheels so as to prevent slippage and loss of control in wet or icy pavement. There are now multiple airbags and crumple zones.
High centers of gravity, a valid concern in previous SUVs, are a thing of the past. Many are quite sporty and very responsive to good drivers.
The industry is learning--the wave of the future is for all SUVs to have the kind of features I've described. I think that the huge SUVs--Suburbans, Yukons, Navigators, and the like, are not going to be with us in their present form within the next half decade for economic reasons. They are simply too expensive to operate and oil prices will in all likelihood be going quite a bit higher. Who want to spend $75 or more filling up a tank of a vehicle that gets 10-12 mpg? We had a nice run of cheap oil, a factor that helped the sales of big SUVs tremendously, but I don't think the prospects for cheap oil in the long term are very good.
And what was the key element of safety when you were a child? It was that your mother fed you, and there was warm liquid. That's why cupholders are absolutely crucial for safety. If there is a car that has no cupholder, it is not safe. If I can put my coffee there, if I can have my food, if everything is round, if it's soft, and if I'm high, then I feel safe."
The author may be onto something. My experience is that children are more interested in cupholders than any other group of passengers. |
