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Comment by slim | Hacker News Reader

Part of the appeal of SUVs is they put you in a superior position in case of crash. It's for people with competitive mindsets.

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SUVs are possibly safer if you collide with a smaller vehicle. But they are not safer in general. And they are especially not safer for pedestrians as the OP's URL says. Here's another earlier URL on that topic:

https://www.treehugger.com/nhtsa-keeps-blaming-victims-inste...

SUVs roll over and, when they do, their occupants brains are often smashed. Not good for your next Google interview.

SUVs are less maneuverable and can be unstable if one attempts to change course, especially at higher speed such as freeway driving. This is even more serious in rain and ridiculously obvious in ice/snow.

Sedans are safer b/c

- they are designed to be safer (sedan safety standards are more demanding than those of SUVs),

- they are more maneuverable and brake better and

- they protect you from front/rear/side impacts and from rollovers.

Sure, the sedan is destroyed, but it did it's job, which is to protect you. You can always get a new car but you can't get a new brain if yours is pancaked.

Why are sedan safety standard more demanding?

In the US there are different safety and fuel economy standards for different classes of vehicles. The traditional SUV is built on a light truck frame and is classified as a light truck, so it does not need to meet the same safety and fuel economy standards that would be required of a sedan. It gets a bit fuzzier when you start to talk about 'crossover' vehicles, which are usually SUV-style vehicles built on sedan frames. The short version is that light truck standards assume things like pickup trucks used on farms or construction sites and not soccer moms hauling three kids and groceries.

I now drive a large truck, and moved my wife to a large SUV. The area we live in is more rural, with the small car being an exception. I absolutely was thinking about my family over anyone else when I made that decision. I have always tended to buy smaller cars and was a bit skeptical about larger vehicles, but once you get used to one it's really hard to imagine going back, at least when there's a size difference in the area you commonly drive in.

When I was growing up in the 90s I lived in a rural area. I drove a late 70s-early 80s style detroit land yacht. I was an idiot and ended up in a cornfield doing 70mph. So did a classmate driving an SUV a few months later. Do you want to guess which one walked away and which one died from a rollover crash?

I don't know if it's intentional, but it feels like you're implying these people are actively looking to cause crashes.

Safety, storage, terrain capabilities, and "command position" are all going to be factors.

I don't think the gp is implying that people are actively looking to cause crashes. What they are saying is that a "better you than me" mentality (which is unfortunately quite rational) is definitely a factor in the overall buying decision.

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