SUVs are 52% of new-car sales
The Wall Street Journal debunks (subscription required) the claims in a new book on SUVs:
SUVs are not killing a large number of small-car occupants. Only about 4% of occupant deaths in 1990-96 model-year cars involved SUVs...The problem isn't the SUVs; it's the small cars. They are designed with safety-threatening lightness in part because the Environmental Protection Agency requires car manufacturers to meet various gas-mileage demands. But the word "protection" deserves a broader meaning, one that includes drivers as well as air quality. About 38% of light-car occupant deaths happen in single-vehicle crashes, while an additional 23% happen in two-vehicle crashes with other cars.
...The new safety features in SUVs are astonishing. No wonder they are expected to account for 52% of new-car sales. The Ford Motor Co., Mr. Bradsher's favorite whipping boy, recently introduced the Volvo XC90, for instance, an SUV (built on a luxury-car chassis) with gyroscopes to detect and prevent rollovers, traction control, an array of side airbags and seat belts that increase tension automatically when the vehicle senses a crash. The seats are designed to prevent whiplash, and the roof will remain intact even if the SUV rolls over.