U.S.

Rollover, Range Rover

By CBSNews.com staff CBSNews.com staff

May 25, 2000 / 4:35 PM EDT / CBS

It's a battle of heavyweights: federal highway safety regulators versus makers of SUVs, pickups and vans. How the contest will play is an open question. But, as CBS News Correspondent Bob Orr reports, there is no question some vehicles are more prone to rollover than others.

Rollover crashes kill nearly 10,000 people a year on America's highways. SUV's, now among the most popular vehicles in America, sit high off the ground and have a high risk of rolling over.

New government crash numbers reveal that 62 percent of people who died in SUV crashes were in rollovers. The rollover fatality rate was 41 percent for minivans, and cars only about half of that.

Have SUVs hit a dead end?

They can't get much bigger and, with gas prices pumping up, mileage is once again an issue. CBS News' Sandra Hughes reports on what American drivers want now.

Car buyers looking at 2001 models could learn how prone a vehicle is to rollovers under a proposed government five-star safety rating system unveiled Thursday. The lower the number of stars, the higher the rollover risk.

Consumers will be able to see these ratings on the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration's Web site, along with a vehicle's performance on front and side-impact crash tests. Five stars indicate the most protection, one star the least.

"We know from our crash test ratings that when consumers have information, they buy safely," said Rosalyn Millman, NHTSA's deputy administrator.

"Consumers deserve to know the stability differences among different types of vehicles."says Rodney Slater, Secretary of Transportation.

Some luxury cars have expensive anti-rollover technology which may prevent spinouts, which can lead to rollovers. And safety features are proliferating as well. Ford plans to install air curtains on minivans next year. In a rollover crash, the air bags would stay inflated long enough to protect against head injuries.

But, as auto safety experts say, it's not enough to change the cars. Driver behavior plays a big role too. Phil Recht, an auto safety analyst, says, "We see more drivers who are speeding particularly in curves. We see more drivers who are drinking. We see more drivers who aren't wearing their seat belts."

Automakers too hae long said a driver's behavior and road conditions are more important factors in determining vehicle rollover. For instance, a motorist who goes off the road while traveling at a high speed is more likely to roll over.

"The ultimate factor in rollover is not center of gravity, it's driver safety," said Greg Martin, spokesman for General Motors Corp. "The NHTSA proposal is not likely to prevent rollover crashes."

GM and other automakers say they determine rollover resistance by testing vehicles while they are in motion on driving tracks, but usually that information is not available to consumers.

NHTSA's system for determining rollover risk is a more simple formula -- half the distance between two wheels on the same axle divided by the height of the vehicle's center of gravity.

NHTSA will have 60 days of public comment before implementing the rollover program. Automakers say they hope the proposal will change.

While it will take a long time to change drivers' habits, regulators are trying to bully the car makers into action. They want consumers— armed with new rollover information— to demand the kinds of changes that will make even the cheapest car or SUV safer.