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Sport utility vehicle
Car Show
Sport utility vehicle
Mini SUV
A second-generation (1995-2001)
Ford Explorer, the best-selling mid-size SUV in the United States
A sport utility vehicle, or SUV, is a type of
passenger vehicle which combines passenger-carrying and load-hauling
abilities with the versatility of a
pickup
truck. Most SUVs are designed with a roughly square
cross-section, an engine compartment, a combined passenger and cargo
compartment, and no dedicated trunk. Most mid-size and full-size SUVs have 5 or
more seats, and a cargo area directly behind the last row of seats.
Mini SUVs,
such as the
Jeep
Wrangler, may have fewer seats.
It is known in some countries as an off-roader or four wheel drive,
often abbreviated to 4WD or 4x4, and pronounced "four-by-four".
More recently, SUVs designed primarily for driving on roads have grown in
popularity. A new category, the
crossover SUV uses
car
components for lighter weight and better
fuel economy.
Design characteristics
SUVs were traditionally derived from
light
truck
platforms, but have developed to have the general shape of a
station wagon. SUVs are typically taller, though, with a roughly square
cross-section.
SUVs typically have higher seating than a station wagon and can be equipped
with
four wheel drive, providing an advantage in low
traction environments. The design also allows for a large engine compartment,
and many SUVs have large V-6 or V-8 engines. In countries where fuel is more
expensive, buyers often opt for diesel engines, which have better fuel
efficiency, and given that diesel fuel itself is often much cheaper than
gasoline.
History
Moskvitch 410.
Sport utility vehicles were originall descended from commercial and military
vehicles such as the
Jeep and
Land Rover.
In fact, that many SUVs have a squarish design is partially due to the Jeep,
which was manufactured that way.
[1] SUVs have been popular for many years
with rural buyers due to their off-road capabilities. In the last 25 years, and
even more in the last decade, they have become popular with urban buyers.
Consequently, more modern SUVs often come with more luxury features and some
crossover SUVs, such as the
BMW X5, the Acura MDX, and the Toyota RAV4, have adopted lower ride heights and car chassis to better
accommodate their use for on-road driving.
Popularity
SUVs became popular in the United States, Canada, and Australia, especially
in the 1990s and early 2000s, for a variety of reasons. Buyers became drawn to
their large cabins, higher
ride
height, and perceived
safety
when in the market for a new vehicle. Additionally, most full-size SUVs have far
greater towing capacities than conventional cars, allowing owners to tow
RVs, trailers, and boats
with relative ease, adding to the utilitarian image.
A large growth in SUV popularity and sales is due to advertisement targeted
towards women. Women constitute more than half of SUV drivers, and SUVs are the
most popular vehicle choice of women in the United States.
The most common reason for SUV popularity cited by owners was their safety
advantage in a
collision with regular cars. Some of their success is also due to their
image, a substantial factor for many buyers. In the late 1990s and early 2000s,
vehicle manufacturers sold the image of SUVs very effectively, with per-vehicle
profits substantially higher than other automobiles. Historically, their simple
designs and often outdated technology (by passenger car standards) often made
the vehicles cheaper to make than comparably-priced cars. Still, SUVs are more
expensive than sedans of similar quality and features.
In the mid 2000s, however, their popularity has waned, due to higher gasoline
prices after a period of low prices when SUVs became popular. Current model SUVs
take into account that 98% of SUV owners never
offroad. As such, SUVs now have lower ground clearance and suspension designed primarily for paved road usage.
SUVs in remote areas
SUVs are often used in places such as the Australian
Outback, Africa, the Middle East, and most of Asia, which have limited paved
roads and require the vehicle to have all-terrain handling, increased range, and
storage capacity. The low availablity of spare parts and the need to carry out
repairs quickly allow model vehicles with the bare minimum of electric and
hydraulic systems to predominate. Typical examples are the Land Rover, the
Toyota Land Cruiser and the Lada Niva.
SUVs targeted for use in civilization have traditionally originated from
their more rugged all-terrain counterparts. For example the
Hummer H1 is derived from the HMMWV developed for the US Armed Forces.
Other names
Outside of
North America and India, these vehicles are known simply as
four-wheel-drives, often abbreviated to "4WD" or "4x4". They are classified
as cars in countries such as the
UK where the U.S. distinction between cars and 'light trucks' is not used. In
Australia, the automotive industry and press have recently adopted the term SUV in place of
four wheel drive in the description of vehicles and market segments.
"Utility" or "ute" refers to an automobile with a flatbed rear or pick-up,
typically seating two passengers and is often used by tradesmen, and is
typically not a 4WD vehicle.
Hybrid technology
The 2005
Ford Escape Hybrid is the first hybrid SUV, with a hybrid version of the Lexus
RX 330 (known as the RX 400h) also available. Shortly after the Escape Hybrid's
introduction, Mercury introduced a hybrid version of its Mariner, which is a
lightly restyled Ford Escape. A hybrid version of the Toyota Highlander is
available, and hybrids of the Mazda Tribute and Saturn VUE
are in the pipeline. While some manufacturers (most notably Toyota in the Lexus
RX 400h) are using added power generated from the hybrid systems primarily to
give vehicles added performance, these hybrid SUVs still offer equal or better
fuel efficiency than their conventionally-powered counterparts.
SUVs in recreation and motorsport
SUVs are also used to explore off-road places otherwise unreachable by
vehicle or for the sheer enjoyment of the driving. In Australia,
China, Europe, South Africa and the U.S. at least, many 4WD clubs have been
formed for this purpose. Modified SUVs also take part in races, most famously in
the Paris-Dakar Rally, and the Australian Safari.
Criticism
The explosive growth in SUV ownership has attracted a large amount of
criticism, mainly of the risks to other road users and the environment, but also
on the basis that the perceived benefits to the vehicle owner are illusory or
exaggerated.
Safety
A Ford Excursion SUV next to a Toyota Camry
Safety is a common point of criticism. The majority of modern automobiles are
constructed by a method called unibody or monocoque construction, whereby a
steel body shell absorbs the impacts of collisions in crumple zones. Many SUVs,
on the other hand, are constructed in the traditional manner of light trucks:
body-on-frame, which, when negligently designed can provide a comparatively
lower level of safety. However, some SUVs have designs based on unibody
construction: the Ford Escape/Mazda Tribute, Lexus RX 330 and RX 400h, Hyundai
Santa Fe, and Acura MDX are some examples. In fact, the Jeep
Cherokee/Liberty (1984 on) and Grand Cherokee (1993 on) have used unibody
construction from the start.
Risk to other drivers
Because of SUVs' greater height and weight, and often usage of body-of-frame
constructions, it is
documented many SUVs hurt overall public road safety by slightly reducing risk
for people inside the SUV, but substantially increasing risk for those outside
the SUV (in other vehicles or on foot). This is due to the SUVs' weight and
height advantage in multi-vehicle accidents (resulting in much fewer deaths in
the vehicle, but increasing risks for others) being counterbalanced by their
raised center of gravity, which increases the potential for rollover.
In 2004, the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration released figures showing that
drivers of SUVs were 11 percent more likely to die in an accident than people in
cars.
[1] These figures may be confounded by variables other than the vehicles'
inherent safety, for example the documented tendency for SUVs to be driven more
recklessly (most sensationally perhaps, the 1996 finding that SUV drivers are
more likely to drive drunk
[2]). SUV drivers are also statistically less likely to wear their
seatbelts.
[3]
The considerable weight of full-size SUVs (such as the
Chevrolet Suburban and the Ford Excursion) makes collisions with other, smaller
cars much less dangerous for the SUV and much more dangerous for the car. The
higher ride and other design characteristics of many SUVs may also lead to
greater damage to smaller crash partner cars. These mass and design dangers are
known as crash incompatibility issues in the crash testing industry, and are a
topic of active research. The most notable statistic in SUV design crash
incompatibility is an increase in fatalities when an SUV strikes the head of a
passenger or driver in a side-impact collision. This is one of the motivations
for the development of side-curtain airbags in
standard autos.
The high center of gravity of SUVs makes them more prone to rollover
accidents (especially if the vehicle leaves the road or in emergency manoeuvres)
than lower vehicles. In recent years, Consumer Reports has found a few SUVs
unacceptable due to their rollover risk. This was also dramatically demonstrated
in one Fifth Gear show using a Range Rover. Modern SUVs are usually designed to prevent rollovers on flat
surfaces. Average heights for:
- Minivans 70.2 in
- Family sedans 57.3 in
- SUVs 70.7 in
SUV safety concerns are compounded by a perception among some consumers that
SUVs are safer for their drivers than standard autos. This perception is
generally incorrect, although SUVs might provide more safety in a few
situations. According to
G. C. Rapaille, a psychological consultant to automakers (as cited in
Gladwell, 2004), many consumers feel safer in SUVs simply because their ride
height makes "[their passengers] higher and dominate and look down (sic).
That you can look down [on other people] is psychologically a very powerful
notion." This and the massive size and weight of SUVs may lead to consumers'
false perception of safety (Gladwell, 2004).
[4].
Similarly, a related perceived benefit for SUV drivers is that their higher
seating enables them to have a better overview on the road, possibly enabling
the driver to react sooner to crossing pedestrians or hazards ahead. However,
this advantage is only relative to other vehicles: a higher vehicle, while
affording a better view for its own driver, will tend to obscure the view for
all other road users, thus decreasing general road safety, and possibly
frustrating other drivers.
In Europe, effective 2006, the fitting of bull bars, also known as grill guards to vehicles such as 4x4s and SUVs is illegal.
Risk to pedestrians
An SUV hitting a pedestrian is about twice as likely to kill as a car at
equal speed. This is in part because the collision of an SUV with a
pedestrian
tends to impact the chest, while the collision of a car with a pedestrian tends
to impact the knees.
The size and design of SUVs leads to a restricted driver's view of the area
immediately surrounding the vehicle. The back view is particularly restricted.
Young children and cars behind the SUV may be completely invisible. While this
is a non-issue on the road, it makes backing out of a stall or a driveway more
difficult and dangerous. Quite a few manufacturers try to remedy the problem by
offering rear-view cameras or simple sensors that sound the alarm if the car is
about to hit something. This is still rather new technology and is not
fool-proof. Unfortunately, those tend to be pricey options and only a fraction
of SUVs have them installed. Aftermarket offerings also exist for interested
buyers.
Recent improvements
Manufacturers have added car-level bumpers to reduce the possibility of the
other vehicle(s) sliding under the SUV in a collision. SUVs have therefore
become somewhat safer for other road users in recent years.
Tax benefits
In the United States, the so-called 'SUV subsidy' allows small-business
owners to deduct up to $25,000 of the cost of a vehicle with a gross vehicle
weight rating of over 6000 lb (2722 kg) from their income tax
calculation. Small-business owners may deduct $10,610 of the cost of a passenger
automobile. This provides a slight tax incentive for businesses to purchase an
SUV. However, the cost of both SUVs and automobiles is fully deductible over
future years using normal depreciation. In previous years, this deduction
reached $120,000 and was the subject of much criticism.
Fuel economy
The recent popularity of SUVs is one reason the U.S. population consumes more
gasoline than in previous years. SUVs are as a class much less fuel efficient
than comparable passenger vehicles. The main reason is that SUVs are classified
by the U.S. government as
light trucks, and thus are subject to the less strict light truck standard under
the Corporate Average Fuel Economy (CAFE) regulations. The CAFE requirement for
light trucks is an average of 20.7 mpg (US), versus 27.5 mpg (US) for passenger cars (11.4 and 8.6 L/100 km,
respectively).
As there is little incentive to change the design, SUVs have numerous
fuel-inefficient features. The high profile of SUVs increases wind resistance. The heavy suspension and large engines increase vehicle
weight. SUVs also often come with
tires designed for
off-road traction rather than low
rolling resistance. The more car-like SUVs tend to have somewhat lower profiles
and better road performance tires, but often still have several disadvantages,
such as large, fuel-inefficient engines, greater mass, and poorer aerodynamics.
The low fuel economy is caused by
- high parasitic masses (compared to the average load) causing high energy
demand in transitional operation (in the cities)
where P stands for power, mvehicle
for the vehicle mass, a for acceleration and v for the vehicle velocity.
- high cross-sectional area causing very high drag losses especially when
driven at high speed
where F stands for the force, Across
for the cross-sectional area of the vehicle, ρair
for the density of the air and vair
for the relative velocity of the air (incl. wind)
- high rolling resistance due to all-terrain tires (even worse if low
pressure is needed offroad) and high vehicle mass driving the rolling
resistance
where μroll stands for the
rolling resistance factor and mvehicle
for the vehicle mass.
Diesel-engined versions tend to show better fuel economy figures than
gasoline-burning versions: some official figures show that a small diesel 4x4
has better touring economy than the supercharged Mini Cooper S or many large saloon cars. Note though that gasoline contains about
15% less energy than diesel fuel per unit of volume, so direct comparison of
fuel economy numbers can be misleading. Bear in mind also that high-sulfur
diesel (soon to be forbidden in the United States) is much more polluting than
gasoline, so direct comparisons of miles-per-gallon or litres-per-kilometre
figures can be misleading.
Although SUVs have the image of being fuel hogs, compared to sport editions
of standard cars, luxury cars, and minivans, SUVs are not always worse.
Minivans, luxury cars, diesel-engined sedans, can weigh as much as, or more,
than an SUV. However, SUVs and sedans of the same weight do not always have the
same fuel efficiency, because SUVs tend to have more drag. Sport editions and
tuned cars can have poor fuel economy. Luxury cars and limousines often have
larger engines than an SUV. The smallest consumer gasoline cars average from 16
km/L to 20 km/L (40-50 mpg). Average gasoline cars average from 8 km/L to 15
km/L (20-35 mpg). Most gasoline luxury cars, limousines, SUVs, sport editions
and tuned cars vary from 6 km/L to 12 km/L(15-30 mpg).
Weight
The high gross vehicle weight rating of some full-size SUVs (like the
Ford Excursion and Hummer H2) technically limits their use on certain roads.
Rural bridges often have a 6000 lb (2700 kg) weight limit, and some full-size
SUVs surpass this limit when loaded. These laws are rarely enforced for SUVs,
however, since these vehicles are seen as passenger vehicles instead of
commercial trucks. Other vehicles can weigh as much as an SUV: the Dodge Grand
Caravan exceeds the 6000 lb mark by 650 lb (295 kg), and the Honda Odyssey, at
5952 lb (2700 kg), and Kia Sedona, at 5959 lb (2703 kg), are close. For
comparison, a mid-size sedan such as the Honda Accord weighs 4080 lb (1851 kg)
fully loaded. These weights are all for vehicles fully loaded to GVWR, and most
owners rarely load their vehicles to full capacity. However sometimes, SUVs may
look heavier than they actually are. For instance, a 1999 Jeep Cherokee has a
curb (empty) weight of 3300 lb (1500 kg), while a smaller car like the 2005
Volkswagen Golf diesel has a curb weight of 3100 lb (1400 kg).
Handling and braking
Because of the its great weight and high center of mass, an SUV generally
performs poorly in emergency manoeuvres. In braking, the high center of mass
directs an excessive loading shift to the front tires, which results in poor
traction.
Image
Some criticism of SUVs is based purely on their image as expensive, upscale
status symbols for the (relatively) wealthy and their stereotypically yuppie
owners/drivers as arrogant, rude, and wasteful show-offs.
Protests
Anti-SUV vandalism
In April 2005, William Cottrell, a 24-year-old American postgraduate student
at Caltech was sentenced to more than eight years in federal prison and $3.5
million in fines for firebombing or vandalizing 125 SUVs at dealerships and a
few homes in 2003.[5]
Two of his associates fled the country to avoid prosecution.
[6]
Slang
In southern England, SUVs, excluding farm vehicles such as Land Rovers, are
often referred to in derogatory terms as "Soft-Roaders" or "Chelsea tractors",
coined by London Mayor, Ken Livingstone.In the UK they are occasionally known as
jeeps or Land
Rovers no matter what make they actually are, although the increasing prevalence
of these vehicles in recent years has decreased this colloquial usage. In
New Zealand they are occasionally called "Fendalton tractors" or "Remuera
tractors" after the higher priced suburbs in Christchurch and Auckland
respectively. In Australia, particularly Victoria, they are referred to as "Toorak
Tractors". In The Netherlands they are often called "PC Hooft-tractoren" after
Amsterdam's
most exclusive shopping street. SUVs are also criticized in the Netherlands for
similar reasons, and some environmentalists are pushing local governments to
deny SUV users parking spaces.
See also
Notes and references
- Gladwell, M. (2004, January 12). Big and bad. The New Yorker,
LXXIX, 28-30.
[7]
- Motor Trend. (Complete information on the Motor Trend
reference is unavailable. However, the article was Motor Trend's
announcement of the Lexus RX 300 as the 1999 SUV of the Year.)
- ↑ Keith Bradsher.
High and Mighty: SUVs--The World's Most Dangerous Vehicles and How They Got
That Way. Published by PublicAffairs.
ISBN 1586482033
Additional reading
- Keith Bradsher. High and Mighty: SUVs--The World's Most Dangerous
Vehicles and How They Got That Way. Published by PublicAffairs.
ISBN 1586482033
- Adam Penenberg. Tragic Indifference : One Man's Battle with the Auto
Industry over the Dangers of SUVs. Published by HarperBusiness.
ISBN 0060090588
External links
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