Some ramblings from the lunatic fringe: http://www.auto.com/industry/walsh17_20020917.htm

Comments?

 

I doubt that he even drives the Audi or Mercury. It's probably more like a Yugo.

 

He sounds like a loose canon to me. He resorts to name calling for just about every group of people there is. Like someone in the article said, the rate of accidents has dropped dramatically since the mid-80s while SUV sales have shot way up. He's trying to make a big issue out of something that's a non-issue. Probably some liberal put him up to this. What a disgrace :-X23

 

SUVs in of themselves are not the problem,
it's the idiots driving them...

Steve & the Rockette
'63 F100
'68 F100
'72 Capri 2L
'73 Capri 2.6L V6
'73 MG B GT 2.6L V6(Ford)
'98 Contour SVT 2.5L V6, That blowed up real good...
'01 ZX2 (No Mods yet)

 

does this guy have nothing better to do than to psychoanalyze drivers? he made generalizations which have no scientific, sociological or theoretical basis. poor shoddy crappy journalism. junk news. belongs in the rag at the grocery check out line along with "Bat Boy Spotted at County Fair" and "BigFoot marries Lisa Marie Presley".

When i bought my X, i knew it may be apt to rollover, so i dont take corners sharply, i took the precaution to lower it an inch or two, put on solid sway bars and Goodyear Wrangler tires that handle better and have greater traction. I also bought an SUV, not to be "menacing" or because i am "vain, self-absorbed, or self-centered" but because i have 3 huge dogs (imagine driving to the vet with 3 dogs crammed in the back of a Honda), and i move around often. i also do a lot of fix-it yourself jobs around the house so i needed the cargo room for building materials. i wanted the cargo room of a pickup but with the creature comforts of a car. thought about getting a F150 with a shell, but that wouldnt do. so i got an X.
I think this guy has some personal issues to sort thru, he's angry about something, maybe some bottled up road rage at that one or two drivers that cut him off on the freeway maybe they happened to be driving SUVs who knows? If he is so concerned with the "dangerousness of SUVs" then he should do some actual research and engineering. dont just point the finger and say "u all are bad drivers/suckers of consumerism shame on you!!!" build a better SUV. any *** can criticize something, but it takes a real person to actually do something about it.

Tyger9791
'96 Ford Explorer XLT "Tonka Truck"

 

>does this guy have nothing better to do than to
>psychoanalyze drivers?

No, he's a liberal, and liberals are the smartest people in the world. Just ask one and they will confirm this. They don't need to back up their claims with facts that will violate their preconceived ideas.

>he made generalizations which have no
>scientific, sociological or theoretical basis. poor shoddy
>crappy journalism.

So what else is new, they have be doing it for years. Tell a lie often enough and it will eventually become the truth.


>junk news.

Liberal news is always junk.

>belongs in the rag at the
>grocery check out line along with "Bat Boy Spotted at County
>Fair" and "BigFoot marries Lisa Marie Presley".

Why insult those fine publications with the garbage this loser is peddling?

SUVs are only dangerous if your a liberal with an axe to grind.


>

 

A NOTE FROM KEITH BRADSHER

For a little over a year after The New York Times assigned me to be the paper's Detroit bureau chief, I was as enthusiastic as every auto writer about the boom times that SUVs had brought to the auto industry. Then my editor asked me what happened when SUVs hit cars. It turned out that the stiff, high-riding underbodies designed for optimal off-road driving performance had made SUVs three times as likely as cars to kill the occupants of the vehicles they hit.

I have been investigating SUV problems ever since. The failures of Firestone tires on Ford Explorers, so much in the news last year, are a small part of a much deadlier problem: that SUVs are poorly suited to replace family sedans. SUVs have been shrewdly designed to exploit dozens of safety and regulatory loopholes, and they have also emerged as a disaster for safety and the environment. As the fleet of SUVs on America's roads grows older--and larger--these problems will only become worse. As I kept writing about these issues for the Times, auto executives became furious, occasionally yelling at me until they turned bright red. I don't think they're going to be too pleased with High and Mighty, either.

http://www.publicaffairsbooks.com/books/hig-ano.html
http://www.publicaffairsbooks.com/images/jkts/hig.gif


I assume this statement applies to all "SUV". Are there any SUVs that are safe in your option Mr. Bradsher? What about some of the newer SUVs that are built on unit body type frames, just like cars, are they unsafe too? Is Ralph Nader your hero Mr. Bradsher?

 

If he wanted to be factual and unbiased in his opinions of SUV's no one would fault him for it. It is his biased, (seemingly) angry generalization of SUV drivers as one type of person or another that I don't get.

I bought my wife an X because I like the safety factor that it provides both her and my son, soon to be son(s). She drives it very carefully and slowly in corners/turns, I have no concerns that she's going to turn it over in a turn.

I think one of the biggest problems, if I remember correctly, was with people overloading these vehicles (especially on top, tied down to the roof racks) which seriously changes the vehicle's center of gravity.

I believe that as with anything else, it's the operator who has the most responsibility and influence on the safety of these vehicles.
I believe the vehicles themselves are inherently safe, but that the operators are the 'X' factor when it comes right down to it.


zman

 

This guy is wacky. His background with the NY Times proves he is not to be trusted for the truth. So there is just one thing left not to do: Don't buy the book! Let it rot on the shelves and he will go away, along with his spurious claims based upon contrived data.

 

ok I just read this article and found that he is a total idiot. He says that Chrysler "wanted to use dark tinted windows in the back of the PT Cruiser to give it a more menacing look!" ????? I sold these things when they first came out and up untill December of last year and I don't see where a car built on the Neon platform with an under powered 4 cyl coud be made menacing by adding tinted windows?? The most common comment on the stock PT is how cute it looks not how mean it looks. Yes Chrysler does class it as a SUV but get real it would fold like a cardboard box if you hit a full size ford crown vic. with it.


And in response to his comment about how a suv is three times more likely to kill the occupants of the vehicle it hits: Look out all of you Excursion owners, I drive a Bronco and your gonna die!!!! Give me a break!!!!

As I see it he is comparing a glass jar to a claw hammer and assuming that they are the same, and is amazed that when they both make contact that it is the jar that keeps breaking.

If you ask some one who drives a yugo if they bought their car for safety most with a brain are going to say no.

Sorry this is so long. I'll climb down from the soap box now.

dj

 

A handgun is not an inherently unsafe mechanical device. When spun around the index finger of an idiot it becomes an unsafe object. More specifically it becomes a large part of an unsafe situation. An SUV at rest is not inherently unsafe. In the hands of a unskilled, unaware, or "idiot" driver it becomes a part of an unsafe situation. If a preoccupied, or idiot driver in a subaru justy runs a light and I, in my SUV or whatever, run slap over his vehicle that driver is not being penalized because he's driving a midget car. He's being penalized because he's inattentive, or an idiot. If it's not "fair" that the justy driver got hurt and I didn't...well......so what? Life isn't about being fair all the time. It's about being prepared.......IMHO .

 

Speaking of the Ford Explorer and Firestone tires, I watched (TV) a very interesting test. They purchased a used Explorer (80,000 miles) and made no modifications to it. They fitted the rear wheels with a devise that could remotely dump all the air from the tires. Then a professional driver drove the SUV down a paved road at 40,60 and 70 MPH. Every time they dumped the air, the Explorer tracked straight down the road with no control problems. On the last run (70 MPH) the driver took his hands off the wheel before the air was dumped and still had no control problems. Conclusion was that many of the accidents could have been caused by bad reactions from drivers. Interesting.
Dono

 

Let it rot on
>the shelves and he will go away, along with his spurious
>claims based upon contrived data.

That's the problem with these wack jobs Brien, they never seem to go away. The media will keep pumping this junk out even if all his allegations are proven to be false. The liberal media will keep consulting and putting morons this on the news each night as "experts". Haven't you even noticed that when a liberal is proven wrong, which is most of the time, it's never reported. No follow up from the media. Nope, in fact next week this loser will be an "expert" at something else the liberal left doesn't like. But when ever a conservative minded person in wrong, it's on the front page for the next 6 weeks. The fact that this guy worked for the New York Times is reason enough to ignore anything he has to say.

 

>That's the problem with these wack jobs Brien, they never
>seem to go away. The media will keep pumping this junk out
>even if all his allegations are proven to be false. The
>liberal media will keep consulting and putting morons this
>on the news each night as "experts". Haven't you even
>noticed that when a liberal is proven wrong, which is most
>of the time, it's never reported. No follow up from the
>media. Nope, in fact next week this loser will be an
>"expert" at something else the liberal left doesn't like.
>But when ever a conservative minded person in wrong, it's on
>the front page for the next 6 weeks. The fact that this guy
>worked for the New York Times is reason enough to ignore
>anything he has to say.

You're right on Dan

 

Pens are like cars. In the wrong hands idots show themselves very well.

Chris