The king of the road

How did the SUV boom begin?

During the oil crisis of the ’70s, consumers abandoned American pickup trucks in favor of more gas-efficient pickups from Toyota and Datsun. That left Ford and Chevrolet with millions invested in pickup designs, and no buyers. They decided to replace the truck beds with seats and convert the pickups into off-road, sporty passenger vehicles—the Chevy Blazer and Ford Bronco—that would compete with the niche-marketed Jeep Cherokee. At first, demand for these Sports Utility Vehicles was limited to a small, wealthy clientele. But by the mid-1980s, the oil crisis and the recession had ended, and America was ready for something expensive, large, and fun. The big breakthrough came with Ford’s luxurious Explorer, introduced in 1990. From that point on, larger and more expensive SUVs began to take over America’s roads.

What makes an SUV an SUV?

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They range in size from small (Jeep Wrangler) to Brobdingnagian (Lincoln Navigator), but an SUV is essentially a truck underbody with a passenger compartment built on top. Like light trucks, SUVs have the horsepower to pull trailers and heavy loads, and their high road clearance and four-wheel drive enables them to cross forbidding terrain.

Are SUVs used off road?

Very rarely. Only one owner in six ever tows something, auto-industry studies show, and perhaps fewer than one in a hundred ever goes off road. Most owners live in cities or suburbs, and use their SUVs to shuttle to the supermarket, the mall, school, and the commuter train station. “The only time most of these SUVs are going to be off road is when they miss the driveway,” says a Ford marketer.

Then why do people like SUVs?

They are powerful and luxurious, and their brute size makes people feel more secure. Drivers like sitting up high and getting a good view of the road. SUVs also project an image of wealth and a rugged, outdoorsy adventurism. When a middle-aged office worker or a harried suburban mom climbs behind the wheel of an SUV, they can feel young, dynamic, and slightly dangerous.

How powerful is this appeal?

SUVs now account for about 17 percent of the total new car market, up from 6.7 percent in 1991. There are 20 million SUVs now on the road. Last year, American automakers for the first time sold more SUVs than passenger vehicles. All indications are that SUV sales will continue to grow, as new and even more luxurious SUVs come on line. That’s certain to happen, because automakers love them even more than American motorists do.

Why?

Because the markups on SUVs are huge. The modern car, by comparison, is a very compact machine, requiring a lot of engineering to cram all its components into a tight space and meet tough government standards for gas consumption and safety. And cars must be priced competitively against those from Japan, Korea, and other countries. So their profit margins are relatively low—generally, a few hundred dollars per vehicle. Still classified as light trucks, SUVs face much more lenient government standards. And they’re based on fairly simple truck designs, with a passenger box dropped on top. Since consumers will pay for the prestige of owning an SUV, there’s little holding down the price. Each Ford Expedition, for example, generates $12,000 in profit, and each Lincoln Navigator $15,000.

Has this helped Detroit?

The SUV probably saved the American auto industry. By selling millions of these vehicles over the past 15 years, automakers climbed out of the deep hole dug by the Japanese. “The automakers achieved wealth in the 1990s on a scale not seen since the 1960s,” says Keith Bradsher in High and Mighty, a new book about SUVs. “Their stock prices soared, executives pocketed multimillion-dollar bonuses, and workers earned six-digit paychecks.” In 1998, one single Ford SUV plant in Wayne, Mich., produced a third of the profits earned by the company’s 53 factories.

Are people safer in SUVs?

Only when they collide with smaller cars. Government studies show that SUVs are nearly three times as likely as cars to kill the other driver in a crash. Otherwise, though, SUV occupants are at a disadvantage. The Insurance Institute for Highway Safety has found that “the occupant death rate per million SUVs is 6 percent higher than the occupant death rate per million cars. The biggest SUVs have an 8 percent higher death rate than minivans and midsize cars like the Ford Taurus.”

How can this be?

It’s the law of inertia at work: The more mass a vehicle has, the harder it is to stop. In emergencies, SUVs take seconds more to brake, are harder to steer, and are prone to tipping and rolling over. SUVs roll over 5 times per hundred crashes—compared with 2 per hundred for minivans, and 1.7 per hundred for cars. Rollovers are responsible for a quarter of traffic deaths and half of all cases of paralysis from all causes.

Can SUVs be made safer?

Yes, but only by removing many of the features that make them so attractive to buyers. Reducing SUVs’ height would make them less prone to roll over, and cutting down on their weight and engine size would make them eat less gas and emit less pollution. But the Bush White House strongly opposes stricter government standards for SUVs, and so do congressional Democrats with strong ties to the United Auto Workers. The last two times Democrats tried to raise mileage standards for SUVs, the bills were crushed in the House and Senate. “American mothers love SUVs,” said Democratic Sen. Barbara Milkulksi of Maryland, after voting against the proposal. Her Baltimore district, not incidentally, has a big General Motors plant.

Who buys SUVs?