Quote:
Originally Posted by Ecky
With regards to frame vehicles being safer, it's true that in a head-on collision with a smaller vehicle, a truck's occupants will often fare better than the smaller vehicle's. Being the owner of said smaller car, I'm personally of the opinion that I'd rather people didn't drive trucks as often on public roads (when not necessary) because it makes everyone else less safe. However, it's legal and it's also anyone's right to drive whatever they want.
In other types of accidents, trucks are not more safe. For instance, when hitting a tree, barricade or building, the inertial forces will be the same whether you're in a truck or a car, and the extra weight won't make any difference. In other cases, cars are preferable as they are far less likely to roll than taller vehicles, due to their lower center of gravity. I've rolled an SUV before (ice patch), and it would not have have happened had I been in a smaller vehicle. Probably the most important factor though, is maneuverability; I've avoided a few accidents which I'm certain would have been unavoidable in my older F-150. The stopping distance in wet weather was terrible in that truck, and the rear was prone to breaking loose. Swerving out of the way of a driver pulling into my lane? Not a good idea in a truck, especially if it's wet, but totally doable in my Insight.
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I totally agree in a static object collision that a truck's huge weight and frame act against it due to the laws of motion and the conservation of momentum (hint: its transferred to the occupants not the immovable tree) and that they can not dodge bad situations as easy, hence why if you drive a truck it is your job to be more aware of what is going on and plan ahead when wanting to merge or whatever due to reduced maneuverability. A fair deal of the work I did to my truck was to greatly improve the handling and most importantly the stability and brakes. I didn't want to more than double the output without getting it a rear sway bar, bigger front one, tighter bushings, faster responding springs, stronger and lighter control arms, performance shocks with mono-tube design and dynamic valving, leaf packs off an SRT10 to ensure road-holding and the best tires I could find. I also adapted the brakes off an SRT10 so I can stop quickly and safely. (60 mph to zero in 160ish ft) I am excited to be getting a car that won't fight me for MPGs and I am going to be refitting it with the same shocks (if they make them) as on my truck and the same control arm brand (again if they make them) and nicer brakes for the sake of better handling.