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http://editorial.autos.msn.com/article.aspx?cp-documentid=434514

Pure and utter Bull. The CEI is a shill for the "profits at all costs" crowd. They believe in NO regulation whatsoever.

As for Safety vs weight: All else being equal, more weight does = more safety.

HOWEVER, the Corollary to that is that better crash design and stronger but lighter materials can more than make up the difference, but it'll be more expensive than cranking out the same heavy design for a decade or two.

To illustrate - Imagine having to stop a runaway car quickly without brakes. You would have 2 basic options.

1) Pour a sufficiently thick concrete wall and let it take the punishment.

2) Trigger the E-brakes, put water barrels in front, collapsible concrete, and shock absorbers up attached to a thinner wall.

Option 2 works as well or better but is more expensive than just letting the car be destroyed. Which one would you want to be driving towards?

I'm not taking such articles seriously until the public drives like safety matters.

Well said, Chuck.

Looks like that SUV crashed into a 96 - 00 Honda Civic EX!

Rather, they should banish extra heavy vehicles!

Rather, they should banish extra heavy vehicles!
my thoughts exactly, that way the majority of the drivers of these monstrosities cannot prey on smaller vehicles due to the high and mighty feel.

Perhaps tissue paper would be a better choice of material for cars, if everyone knew that any accident could cause injury/death perhaps then they would put the cell phone down... who am I kidding, it wouldn't mater in the least...

How 'bout egg-shell. All the king's horses and all the king's men, couldn't put the egg-shell super-duty-truck together again.

I'm still of the opinion that a cars maximum allowable speed should be directly proportional to it's mass. Sure you can drive a 5500lb SUV, but you can only go 20mph. My Insight weighs 1900lb +/- so it's a third of the mass so I can go 60mph... (of course, that down hill during a glide) :D

Yes, in general bigger/heavier is safer.Of course bigger/safer is a relative term;they are safer than the small cars because they smush the smaller cars.

In about 10 years or so this won't be much of a issue, because we will have reverted to a 1960's vehicle mix.The vast majority of vehicles will be sedans/hatchback-in the 150"-180" range(averaging under 3000 lbs with plenty under 2400 lbs). We will have some larger hatchbacks and stationwagons and mini-minivans with tall rooflines like the Mazda 5-these will be 185" or less and average about 3500 lbs.

With $5 nearly here,and maybe $10 gas in our somewhat near future,we will have to go much lighter to be able to afford transportation.

Very few individuals will buy a new 1/2 ton sized(5000 lbs) 20 mpg vehicles in 2018.They will be commercial and affluent folks only.

So, the small vehicles will be safer because they will be getting hit by a small vehicle.
Charlie

Hmmm, what about...

- Stopping distance
- Rollover potential
- ESC (and other accident avoidance)

...and of course driving habits and attitude. Those are worth at least 10 times the safety points that vehicle size is.