> Published on Wednesday, December 18, 2002 by the Seattle Times
>
> Nation's SUV Critics Are Gaining Traction
>
> by Froma Harrop
>
> http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/html/editorialsopinion/134597743_harrop18.html
>
>
> Defenders of the SUV can contain themselves no longer. A new book dedicated
> to bashing the big sport-utility vehicles has sent their defenders in the
> automotive press to the battle stations. They're pounding their
> keyboards, and out has come much verbal violence, though little
> substance. Lacking good arguments, the defenders have taken to attacking
> people who express anti-SUV views, rather than the views.
>
> Count me among the SUV critics, though with some reservations. I do not
> think that SUV owners are necessarily headed for the hot place, as
> environmentally conscious clergy have recently suggested. I could even
> envision my having one - if, for example, I lived on a llama farm and had
> to transport 80- pound bags of feed up a dirt mountain road on a daily
> basis. That not being the case, I drive a Honda Accord.
>
> In any event, the storm centers on a book with a long, descriptive title,
> "High and Mighty - SUVs: The World's Most Dangerous Vehicles and How They
> Got That Way." As you may guess, author Keith Bradsher does not like
> SUVs. Formerly chief of The New York Times Detroit bureau, Bradsher
> spends 441 pages condemning the safety record of SUVs, their
> environmental impact, their manufacturers and their buyers.
>
> His remarks have not gone unchallenged. In the December issue of Automobile
> magazine, columnist David E. Davis Jr. calls Bradsher some things I
> cannot repeat here. He creatively describes other critics as "bicoastal
> glitterati" and "hysterical housewives of the '80s" - all dedicated to
> "denying freedom of choice to hundreds of thousands of sublimely happy
> SUV owners."
>
> In AutoWeek, columnist Steve Thompson accuses SUV detractors of "vitriolic
> assaults," not only on freedom but on fun, as well. They are furious, he
> says, that "millions of people are 'allowed' to make their own choices
> about what to own and drive, let alone to enjoy." He calls people who
> hate SUVs the "Alliance against Fun."
>
> Speaking of fun, may I interject something here? I don't find this war on
> terrorism to be much fun at all. Americans might be having a far better
> time had SUVs not increased their dependence on Mideastern oil. And not a
> few of them think the cause of freedom might be better served by removing
> the source of terrorist funding.
>
> I'll take a pass on delving into the psychodynamics of SUV owners. There
> may be some truth in Bradsher's generalization of SUV drivers as vain,
> insecure and aggressive. But the SUV drivers I'm close to - a single
> mother and two elderly couples - are none of the above. It's not the fun
> factor but the fear factor that has them wheeling around in their 5,000-
> pound Oil Warriors. They think that bigger size automatically translates
> into greater safety, even though it's not true. SUVs are top-heavy and
> tend to roll over in horrifying accidents. (Bradsher offers studies
> showing that occupants of SUVs are actually slightly more likely to die
> in crashes than are occupants of cars.)
>
> It can be amusing to wax sociological, but both sides should be careful.
> Karl Brauer, editor at edmunds.com, insists that SUV critics are simply
> losers who are envious of successful people. "What better representation
> of success currently exists than the SUV?" he asks. Oooh, I can think of
> some, and without even leaving the dealership.
>
> When I see a nation given over to gas guzzlers, I think not of success
> but of failure - a failure of public policy to protect our nation's
> environment and its security. More depressing is the unwillingness to
> even lift a finger to reduce fuel consumption when the technology to do
> so is readily available. You'd think Detroit would embrace the
> improvements to make SUVs far less objectionable, including to SUV owners
> themselves.
>
> Last summer, William Clay Ford Jr., chief at Ford, touched on something
> when he conceded that fights over fuel economy had dimmed Americans' love
> affair with the car. "People used to write songs about T-Birds and
> Corvettes," he lamented.
>
> With Americans headed toward another war in the Mideast, the Toyota Prius
> has become a hip automotive statement in Hollywood. The Prius is a gas-
> electric hybrid made in Japan. Cameron Diaz and Leonardo DiCaprio each
> have one. Meanwhile, sheriff's offices in Florida have been buying these
> 40-mile-a- gallon vehicles, they say, to help the nation reduce its
> dependence on foreign oil.
>
> When Americans start buying Japanese cars as a patriotic gesture, Detroit
> should worry.
>
> Providence Journal columnist Froma Harrop's column appears regularly on
> editorial pages of The Times.
>
-- Michael Pugliese