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SUV Rollover Accident and Death Statistics

• More than four in ten Americans think they are safer in a sport utility vehicle (SUV) than in a regular car.  (National Consumer Survey, Opinion Research Corporation, January 2005)

• Nearly 50 percent of Americans do not consider that loading contributes to the risk of rollovers.  (National Consumer Survey, Opinion Research Corporation, January 2005)

• 39 percent of Americans feel more powerful when they are driving or riding in an SUV.  (National Consumer Survey, Opinion Research Corporation, January 2005)

• SUVs rollover more easily than other types of vehicles-about 37 percent of fatal crashes, as compared to a 15 percent rollover rate for passenger cars. (National Traffic Safety Administration)

• In 2006 SUVs had the highest occupant fatality rate of any vehicle type in rollover crashes at 7.77 per 100,000 registered vehicles.  This compares with 6.98 for pickup trucks, 3.10 for vans and 3.18 for passenger cars. (Insurance Information Institute)

• Single-vehicle rollover crashes accounted for 47 percent of driver deaths in SUVs in 2006, compared with 39 percent of deaths in pickups and 21 percent of deaths in cars.

• 8,062 SUV occupants died in 2006. (Insurance Institute for Highway Safety, Highway Loss Data Institute)

• 43 percent of car occupant deaths in 2006 occurred in single-vehicle crashes, and 57 percent occurred in multiple-vehicle crashes. By contrast, single-vehicle crashes represented 65 percent of crashes involving SUVs and 62 percent of crashes involving pickups. (Insurance Institute for Highway Safety, Highway Loss Data Institute)