|
What really bothers me is the SUV loop hole, sport vehicles have looser safety standards because they were first thought of as being a 2nd vehicle that is used less and is used for leisure and like motorcycles, people who want sport vehicles are willing to give up a bit of safety for a vehicle that is more fun, I'm not sure how sport vehicles are classified now but years back when I was reading up on vehicle design requirements it was an interesting category, same with Utility Vehicles, utility vehicles have their very own set of loop holes because they are a branch of trucks and vans that need to be able to be used for work, they also need to be able to haul large amounts of cargo, thus the MPG standards for them are looser, they also have much looser safety standards to allow the design to remain flexible, like more flexible bumper hight standards, lower rollover standards and a more ridged frame with less crumple zone, because if you want to put something like a snow plow on your utility vehicle you want the front end to be ridged!
Smaller vehicles also seem to be able to be more ridged because shorter spans of metal are stiffer then long spans, so that allows vehicle makers to make a "safety cage" around the occupants with crumple zone around it.
|