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We just bought a 3/4 ton 2015 truck for hauling. In my research of the vehicle I was questioning the safety of trucks (due to rollovers) and I ran across this...
I was perplex by this because I had not considered the weight of a vehicle being relevant in it's safety (I always went by the star rating).
With so many small cars on the road nowadays and the star safety ratings that lead us to believe that they are perfectly safe, in addition to SUV's/trucks having the reputation of being roll over hazards. In your opinion, does the size of a vehicle (curb weight/footprint) factor into your consideration when choosing a vehicle? What is your opinion on small car vs. SUV or truck safety?
Last edited by mommabear2; 11-19-2015 at 11:34 AM..
Reason: typo oops
Well I wouldn't buy one of those really tiny 2-seater cars that look like a roller skate with a motor! I always picture us stomping on soda cans for the recycle bin...
A nice side effect of the gas price spike was fewer large vehicles on the road. Putting size/weight at the forefront of safety concerns inevitably leads to an arms race of sorts. The safer you are, the more deadly you are to someone else.
It's also a trade off on the likelihood of being in an accident in the first place. More weight and size means more momentum and less maneuverability.
Most rollovers occur when the vehicle leaves the roadway, typically where a ditch is present. Further, most of these types of accidents are the result of the operator's maneuvers in avoiding a collision or trying to compensate for lost control of the vehicle. Point being, the TYPE of vehicles around you will have little impact on your odds of rolling the vehicle.
Size and weight do not matter so much as how the mass is distributed and where that center of gravity is. I do not factor these things in when considering a vehicle. Even if you were to consider the statistics of being involved in a rollover as evenly distributed across all drivers (which is a completely inaccurate assumption) the odds are quite low that you would ever be involved in one. I don't like to spend life worrying about things that will, probably, never be an issue.
It is all relative....
I am reminded of when the VW Beetle came to our shores. Many people said "If you get hit in one of those things by an Oldsmobile or Cadillac, you are DEAD!"
Therefore, so the story goes, a VW dealer went to the Bonneville Salt Flats and proceeded to run over Oldsmobiles, Cadillacs, and Buicks with Kenworth trucks, proving that one isn't "safe" in one of those, either!
Is it a true story? damifino! But, the fact remains, no matter what you are driving, there is something on or crossing the road which is bigger! (a Kenworth is no match for an SW1200 locomotive!)
With so many small cars on the road nowadays and the star safety ratings that lead us to believe that they are perfectly safe, in addition to SUV's/trucks having the reputation of being roll over hazards. In your opinion, does the size of a vehicle (curb weight/footprint) factor into your consideration when choosing a vehicle? What is your opinion on small car vs. SUV or truck safety?
Larger vehicles are more likely to rollover however this is very overstated statistic and contribute to only a small percentage of accidents. In addition to that it's not going to be your average person but some kid driving at high rate of speed...
Overall the larger the vehicle the safer you are, it's just a matter of physics. As the saying goes it's not the crash that kills you but the sudden stop. When you are in a larger vehicle and get into an accident with another car the smaller vehicle is going to absorb a lot of it's energy. Subsequently so do the passengers.
In a 1 car crash... not sure but the there is a basic formula for momentum called mass x velocity. Therefore a truck hits a tree twice as hard as a compact, and you're sitting inside.
In a 1 car crash... not sure but the there is a basic formula for momentum called mass x velocity. Therefore a truck hits a tree twice as hard as a compact, and you're sitting inside.
Assuming the tree doesn't move that doesn't make a difference, whether you are in a large vehicle or small vehicle your body is going from 60 to 0 instantly.
If you were both traveling at 30 what makes the difference when the larger vehicle hits the smaller one is you may only go from 30 to 10 instantly. The person in the smaller vehicle is the equivalent if they were going from 40 to 0.
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