A ranking of the rollover likelihood of vehicles released Monday by the U.S. government is dominated by sport utility vehicles.
The numbers suggest that, as a group, the popular SUVs are considerably more likely to roll in single-vehicle accidents than pickup trucks, passenger cars and vans.
The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration has, for the first time, assigned a percentage to the chance that specific vehicles will roll in such an accident. The agency had previously assessed rollover likelihood on a scale of five stars.
The agency examined numerous vehicles in each of the four classes, finding that passengers cars were generally the most stable (with an 8- to 15-per-cent chance of rolling) and that SUVs tended to be the most likely to tip over (with the risk ranging from 13 per cent all the way up to a 34.8 per cent).
The vehicle with the most extreme chance of rollover was found to be the Ford Explorer Sport Trac 4x2. Those who drive that particular vehicle have a better than one in three chance of rolling if they are involved in a single-vehicle accident, the NHTSA says. The most stable SUV was the Chrysler Pacifica 4x4, the agency says.
Pickup trucks had a smaller range, from the Chevrolet Silverado 4x2 extended cab and the GMC Sierra 4x2 extended cab (corporate twins that are essentially the same vehicle), tied at 15.9 per cent, to the Toyota Tacoma 4x4 extended cab, at 28.3 per cent.
The four vans studied were within a tight range from the low to mid-teens. The Nissan Quest led the pack and the Toyota Sienna came last.
Passenger cars tended to rank considerably better than the other three categories, with the tippiest passenger car roughly in line with the most stable SUV, pickup or van. A Mazda sedan, the RX-8, was found to be the most stable passenger car. The Suburu Outback was the most likely to roll over.
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