Some women just mowed down three people claiming her flip flop made her do it and yes she was driving an SUV and yes the corrupt cops are not charging her with reckless driving it’s the flip flops fault after all…probably couldn’t have taken out all three church goers in a VW bug.
New book brings SUV controversy to the boil
By: Dan Keegan
Date: Tuesday, 18. January 2011
"If the media grasps the importance of this book, September will be a hot month for the high and mighty in Detroit's executive suites," writes Ralph Nader in The Nader Page. Nader wrote that in early August. Now it's September. Keith Bradsher's book, High and Mighty: SUVs--The World's Most Dangerous Vehicles and How They Got That Way is on the news stands and the media have grasped the importance of it.
The auto makers have too, says Detroit Free Press reporter Tom Walsh. "The Alliance of Automobile Manufacturers, the industry trade group, has hired Strat@comm, a public affairs firm with offices in Detroit and Washington, to marshal data and arguments for rebuttal of 'High and Mighty' claims regarding crash data, fuel economy and other issues."
Bradsher's credentials are good. An award-winning journalist and a Pulitzer Prize finalist in 1998 (in the category of "beat reporting"), he headed the New York Times' Detroit Bureau for five years, from 1996-2001, and began writing about SUVs in 1997. Auto PR people say he's biased and inaccurate in his reporting. Anti-SUV groups hail his book as "long overdue."
Media reviews of the book focus on controversial contentions such as:
- Auto manufacturers pushed sales of SUVs because they make more profit on them. Analysts have estimated that the profit margin on vehicles such as the Ford Expedition and Cadillac Escalade can be as high as $10,000 per vehicle.
- SUVs are less safe than other vehicles, being more prone to rollover and harder to drive.
- Auto makers have ignored problems with SUVs because those who buy them are their best customers.
- Government and auto makers have conspired to skirt around environmental requirements on fuel economy.
- Many SUV owners select their vehicles as a show of status and power rather than for practical reasons.
The book and its accusations are stirring up hot debate that cuts to the heart of North American automotive culture with its emphasis on bigger is better, its profligate ways with energy consumption, and carelessness about pollution. In one instance at least, the debate even links SUV issues to the current gathering storm-clouds of possible war with Iraq. Automotive News reporter Richard Truett quotes one opponent of SUVs as stating, "I think it's unpatriotic to put our kids, our young people, in the Army, to put their lives at risk, because of our ridiculous lust to burn gasoline. It's patriotic not to send kids to get killed over gasoline."
Bradsher's profiling of the personalities of those who buy SUVs has particularly irritated some. "They tend to be people who are insecure and vain. They are frequently nervous about their marriages and uncomfortable about parenthood. They often lack confidence in their driving skills. Above all, they are apt to be self-centered and self-absorbed, with little interest in their neighbors or communities," quotes Detroit Free Press columnist Susan Ager. "I choked when I read that in colleague Tom Walsh's column on our front page on Tuesday. I know and love many SUV drivers whose marriages I never worried about -- until now. I worry about their kids, too."
"You've got to have gumption to buy an SUV these days in the face of criticism from environmentalists and small-car owners fighting for their lives," writes Ager. "In some circles, buying an SUV is akin to wearing fur or lighting a cigar in church."
And as for personalities -- Ager takes a few shots at stereotypes of drivers of other vehicle types. Some of her examples:
- Dodge Ram Pickups -- "work hard, even when swilling beer. Moody. Own two dogs, one named Buddy. Unlucky in love.
- Cadillacs -- "Old. Sad. Need attention. Don't see their grandkids often enough."
- Honda CRVs -- "Shy. Drink more tea than whiskey. Think a lot about moving to Canada. Own one cat. Carry brown-bag lunches."
- BMW convertibles -- "Brash. Bold. Commitophobic. Own top-of-the-line entertainment systems. Change bedsheets infrequently."
Of course such stereotyping is unfair, says Ager. "What if you inherited your Suburban, or won your Excursion in a raffle?"
Columnist Tom Walsh, Ager's colleague at the Free Press, takes some tougher shots at Bradsher's book. "Is the book persuasive?" he asks. "Sometimes. There's little question that SUVs are more prone to roll over than most cars and vans. And the safety implications of design incompatibility -- big vehicles with high bumpers smashing into low-riding cars -- should be debated and studied."
"That said," he adds, " Bradsher faces a daunting task to convince the public that SUVs are a huge menace to society, when in fact, the overall rate of U.S. highway deaths has dropped by 50 percent since the mid-1980s, even as sales of SUVs jumped by 600 percent."
He notes Bradsher's criticism of the U.S. National Highway Traffic Safety Administration for being soft on SUVs and his criticism of environmentalists as being more interested in "paddling around among endangered whales and coral reefs, or planting trees in deforested regions of the Himalayas" rather than digging into the mechanical engineering aspects of SUVs. "But it's a bit much, even for me," writes Walsh, "to read that Chrysler executives wanted to use tinted rear windows to give a 'more menacing image' to the PT Cruiser."
The Automotive Digest features a more analytical approach to the book, crisply listing the book's main contentions and significant points. In addition to listing some provocative quotes, it also provides the names of some web sites that offer additional background and information.
On one side of this debate are the anti-SUV factions, whose dislike of the vehicles is based on reasons ranging from environmental concerns to their aggressiveness as part of the traffic stream. SUVs are big, brash, block the view of smaller vehicle drivers and sometimes seem to be almost combative in their design -- "Urban Combat," was the way one traffic safety consultant described some of the new designs at last year's Detroit auto show.
Defenders, on the other hand, point to their popularity as a consumer choice. "Auto makers are just building what people want," Nissan spokesman Fred Standish told Richard Truett of Automotive News (http://cityguide.news-press.com/fe/Wheels/story3.shtml).
"We don't ignore what's going on," Standish said. "But years of work go into product planning. We don't set our product plans on a comic strip or someone's book. Right now, consumers don't want cars with big (tail)fins. If they ever do, we'll build them. We are in business to sell the cars that people tell us they want."
Truett got another story from Robert Thompson, professor of media and popular culture at Syracuse University. "Auto makers have helped fuel the demand for sport-utilities by crafting an image for them that many buyers find hard to resist," said Thompson.
"It is true that all the ads in the world won't sell something people don't want. The new Coke is a good example. On the other hand," Thompson added, "the SUV is one of those things that has been susceptible to good advertising. The ads have to cop an attitude and make it look like you could take on an incredible adventure. But the ads helped fuel the backlash."
Truett couldn't get a comment from General Motors. Ford Motor Company said there's nothing new in the book, and DaimlerChrysler told him it is listening to the anti-sport-utility crowd but plans no changes.
Charlie Blake, used-truck manager at Heintzelman Truck Center in Orlando, Fla., offered Truett a dealer's perspective. "The rollover controversy didn't do it. Sky-high fuel prices (last summer) didn't do it," he said. "It's going to take something extremely dangerous." There's no sign of the SUV controversy affecting their sales, reckoned Blake.
Bradsher's book is hitting the stores at a tumultuous time -- politically, economically and in terms of transportation and highway traffic. Road space is tightening up, with more and more vehicles jostling for position. The auto industry's push to sell larger and more powerful vehicles is coming up against not just environmental concerns, but also political and perhaps even military concerns about oil supply.
As a counterpoint, it might be argued that SUVs are a shift towards function over form in automobile design. Fifteen years ago, every new car that appeared seemed to be presenting itself either as a sports car or a race car, with sleek, low-slung wind-tunnel designs providing a remarkable sameness. Fuel efficiency aside, SUVs are easy to get into and out of, provide a better view of road and traffic, have more practical interior spaces and are good for a variety of driving conditions.
The "dark side," as Toronto Star automotive columnist Gerry Malloy points out, is that they seem to cater to aggressive tendencies in motorists and to flout widely-held concerns about social and environmental issues. "It's a fascinating book for anyone remotely interested in the auto industry," he writes, "and a jab to the social conscience of anyone who cares about the planet."
NOTES
The Detroit Free Press will run excerpts from the "Reptile Dreams" chapter of the book on Thursday (Sept.26) in the Motor City section.
In his book, Keith Bradsher points out that SUVs will become more serious when drunks and teenagers, typically the worst drivers on the road, start buying the older, used SUVs.
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beth,
bethrjacobs,
Bradsher's book should be required reading
