Is It Really The Driver’s Fault?

As you can see from the above ‘test’ video, SUVs have a tendency to want to roll over with very minor adjustments to the steering wheel. Due to their design, SUVs have a much higher center of gravity than other vehicles like a Sedan, Coupe, or Van, making SUVs top-heavy and more susceptible to deadly rollover crashes. It really comes down to basic high school physics and Newton’s First Law of Motion.

To paraphrase: Objects at rest stay at rest, and objects in motion stay in motion unless acted upon by an unbalanced force.

The ‘unbalanced force’ can be created by an impact of some sort or from the sudden movement of the steering wheel by the driver. The sharp lateral movement can cause an SUV to tip to the left or right due to it’s narrower wheelbase, higher center of gravity, and it’s comparatively low weight. Add in other influences like distractions, obstacles, and high speeds, and it’s no wonder we have so many rollovers.

According to a 2014 Consumer Reports article, the majority of single-vehicle rollovers are not caused by a steering maneuver; instead, about 95% of all single-vehicle rollovers result from ‘trips’ (although that percentage is considered debatable). That is to say… “The vehicle usually has to ‘trip’ on something, such as when it swerves into a curb, pothole, or a soft roadside shoulder.” I think we could consider black ice and hydroplaning on a small amount of water as ‘trips,’ too.

I understand many rollovers are due to roadway conditions, however, I believe even most of those accidents were caused, in part, by the response of the driver, who has instinctively jerked the steering wheel one way or the other. Even just seeing a pothole at the last second might cause you to overreact and turn the wheel hard enough to roll your SUV.

When you really think about it, your immediate reaction, instinctively jerking the steering wheel, probably contributes more to the sharp lateral movement of your vehicle than the obstacle itself. I know I’ve done it, jerked the wheel to the left or right without putting any thought into what might go wrong, it happens so fast.

In an emergency, they tell you to “turn your wheels toward the skid” to straighten your path. That is the proper response if it is done correctly, in a gradual way. However, most people don’t slowly turn into the skid; they jerk the wheel hard, in a panicky way, resulting in an over-steer situation which can cause the rear end of the vehicle to ‘fishtail’ out of control; this can result in a rollover and maybe even an ejection for those not using a seat belt.

If you’re old enough, you’ll remember the days when cars, vans, and trucks had a lot of ‘play’ in the movement of the steering wheel. In some vehicles, you could literally move your hand 8 or 10 inches before the wheel would ‘catch’ and start to turn the tire. It’s not that the steering wheel was loose; it was just the way that particular design functioned… there was lots of leeway. It was known as a recirculating ball steering mechanism. The steering wasn’t ‘tight’.

With few exceptions, this was the way automobile steering wheels worked. It wasn’t until the mid-1970s that manufacturers started installing Rack and Pinion Steering in American cars. Oddly enough, the widely proclaimed ‘dangerous’ 1974 Ford Pinto was the first American car with this feature. Prior to 1974, the only vehicles using R&PS were professional race cars and imported sports cars. My old Triumph Spitfire had R&PS.

When it comes to responding to a fishtailing event, I believe the old ‘loose’ style steering method was actually safer in that it didn’t have the ability to immediately respond to your knee-jerk reaction to the skid. Instead, you had a safer, more gradual effect on the wheel.

Ironically, a tighter steering system like Rack and Pinion steering would actually be safer in these situations if it weren’t for the knee-jerk response from the driver. It’s the fault of the driver for his/her reaction, but the SUV manufactures are responsible for putting drivers in the position to have to ignore and/or overcome their instinctive response to jerk the wheel.

If you look back at the number of single-car accidents prior to the creation of the modern SUV in 1984 you’ll find there were very few rollover events. Compared to today’s SUVs, the majority of vehicles on the road back then had a wider wheel base and a lower center of gravity, making it difficult to roll your car without an impact or ‘trip’.

In fact, it seems to me the only time you heard of a car rolling over back then was when someone fell asleep at the wheel while driving at night on the Interstate. They would go into the medium at a high rate of speed and tip over due to the slope of the medium. Rollovers were a relatively rare event.

Today, it seems like it’s almost common to roll your SUV (or crash into a building). It happens in the middle of the day, even at speeds as low as 30mph, literally, on a side street, while the driver is awake (although not necessarily alert). This increased crash rate is a direct result of the current SUV design with it’s higher center of gravity and tighter steering system.

Contrary to popular belief, most rollover accidents are not multiple-vehicle events; they are single-vehicle crashes, many times a result of the instinctive response of the driver. Even reaching down to the floor to retrieve an item can cause your hand on the steering wheel to move enough to cause your SUV to fishtail, possibly resulting in a rollover crash.

The conclusion is… high center of gravity SUVs, with their narrow wheel-base and tight steering mechanisms, are not as safe as we think they are. While it’s true SUVs are considered safer in a head-on collision with a car, the fact is a higher percentage of people die from rollovers than do people involved in a head-on collision.

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So, who’s actually responsible for all these SUV rollover crashes?

I think the rollover issue is 100% the fault of the manufacturers. Even though they knew high center of gravity vehicles tended to rollover easily, they heavily promoted this type of vehicle anyway. They’ve almost turned their backs on the ‘car’ concept in favor of top heavy SUVs.

In addition, the manufacturers have done many studies; they must know rollover crashes are also a result of the tight steering system, yet they don’t seem to want to address the issue. If they can design brakes that make adjustments to the variables involved in braking safely (ABS), why can’t they build a steering system that modifies its performance based on the safety conditions and the driver’s inability to respond in a safe manner?

SUVs are inherently unsafe. A major design change is in order. Lower the center of gravity and create a safer steering system.

Does it all come down to money?

We’ve seen the hefty price increases as of late; it’s all about the money. Automobile manufacturers make a much higher profit from selling SUVs than they do cars, literally in the $10,000+ per vehicle range for some models.

It would be nice, for a change, if manufacturer’s were willing to invest a little more toward the interest of the consumer (the only reason they exist), and a little less into profit, which has sadly reached the point of greed.

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Thanks for reading my article.

Info Sources: In addition to my personal experience, most ‘researched’ information was gathered from the websites noted below and from various Google searches.

• To learn more about SUV rollovers visit this 2014 Consumer Reports Article here.
• To learn more about recirculating ball steering mechanism visit it’s Wikipedia page here.
• To learn more about rack and pinion steering visit its Wikipedia page here.