Carl F. Thelin

BIG, HEAVY AND MEAN – THE SUV AND MPV WARS

In 1960s our government became alarmed about the rising level of motor vehicle deaths and injuries. In those days we had sedans, coupes, convertibles and station wagons and regular pickups made in the US.  All of these things were just about 80 inches wide. There were small imported cars and pickup trucks. Then SUVs were born and grew because of bad laws. Now we hope SUVs can and will shrink for safety.

In the beginning we had only cars, utility trucks and heavy trucks. Cars were passenger cars made for people. Trucks were commercial trucks such as the single unit truck that delivers furniture or gravel. Eighteen-wheeler tractor-trailers are examples of Heavy trucks. Life was simple. You could tell the difference between these things. Commercial and Heavy trucks were big, heavy and mean because they had to be that way.

Big: tall, wide and are often very long. Bumpers, only on the front, were much higher than those on cars were because these vehicles had frames high enough to clear the big solid axles.

Heavy: The diesel engine in a large heavy truck might weigh as much as an entire passenger car. The whole truck was robust to handle big loads and rough terrain.

Mean: These trucks are stiff. Their ladder frames had large straight rails that ran from the front all the way to the back end of the truck. Truck frames have to be strong and stiff and did not bend easily.

Cars were good

It was obvious that cars were more maneuverable than trucks. Cars could turn, stop and accelerate better than any truck. If the car collided with a truck, the car and its occupants suffered more. No surprise, there. That was the natural order of things. A car had the advantage over a two-wheeler motorcycle and a pedestrian, too. In those days, cars ranged from two-seat sports cars, like the MG Roadster, up to the huge eight passenger station wagons offered by Ford, General Motors and Chrysler. The biggest cars were about as big as the smaller pickup trucks. When I was an engineer at General Motors, I learned to say, “Every year we make ‘em LONGER, LOWER, WIDER, FASTER AND QUIETER.” Cars must be quieter and ride with comfort. Then, the oil crisis made us think cars were getting too big

In the 1960s, Ralph Nader and his crew encouraged officials in Washington to reduce the number of highway deaths and injuries. That began to show results as early as 1968. Then, in 1973, more urgent requirements arose. The OPEC oil wars against the United States emphasized the need to reduce the size and weight of vehicles as the second major step to reduce fuel consumption. Oh, yes, the first major step was to institute a national 55-mph speed limit. Eventually, cars became smaller, lighter and with soft construction compared to the gas-guzzling dinosaur 80-inch passenger cars still on the road.

The government set three goals for the auto industry: make cars that were safer, used less fuel and produced fewer emissions. These things are mutually incompatible, but Uncle Sam would not relent. Thus cars of the late 1970s felt light and junky, were hard to start and keep running, and lacked the kind of power Americans expected from big V-8 cars. This hardship seemed necessary at the time

To make matters even worse for the auto industry, the regulators then made the competition tougher. Fuel economy and emissions regulations allowed commercial and heavy trucks to be big, heavy and mean. They had to be to accomplish their vocational purpose. Other vehicles like them were not passenger cars nor were they trucks used solely for the conduct of a vocation. The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) created the class of vehicles called the MPV - Multipurpose Utility Vehicle. An MPV would be a Jeep-like vehicle, a pickup truck, a small cargo van or other four-wheeled vehicle that had utility in industry. The Multi part of the designation recognized that buyer might use these vehicles to transport persons to a job site, as well as some light vocational cargo.

NHTSA gave the MPV vehicles many exemptions from safety, economy and emissions regulations to retain the functional utility of the working class of vehicle. With less mandated equipment, the MPVs had a lower price advantage. Buyers discovered this. The switch from under powered sedans to pickup trucks was on. Finally, after much complaining from consumer organizations, NHTSA began to phase in regulations like those for passenger cars.

The SUV was born when car makers discovered that MPVs could be loaded with profit-enhancing features for appearance, comfort or performance. The appearance of the appealing  Sport Utility Vehicle accelerated the swing of sales from cars to MPVs. Station wagons disappeared as sales of mini-vans took off. Pickup trucks grew extra seats and doors. Finally, even full-frame vans gave way to Ford full-frame-based Expedition type SUV competition. The horsepower race resumed.

What is wrong with all this? We lost sight of the original goal. When safety researchers first proposed equipment like the air bag, we proposed that they should be required equipment first on small cars, which would tend to balance the advantage big, heavy and meaner cars had. Sadly, despite that logic, bigger vehicles cost more and could more easily absorb the incremental cost of high tech equipment. They got the safety features first. Here we are today. Women prefer to buy and drive a huge truck based SUV. They value the security of being big, heavy and mean compared to any other vehicle. They also value being taller to see surrounding traffic better. For them the prospect of overturning more easily seems as remote as the prospect of any crash – it happens to other, less worthy drivers. They counter the prospect of causing more injury to the persons in a smaller vehicle by saying the other guy should have bought a SUV, too.

Eventually the gas-guzzling dinosaurs will die off. We will buy small SUVs with unitized bodies based on a passenger car chassis. Think of the Acura MDX. These are lighter and less mean than a truck based vehicle. The bodies have the softer, more crash-energy absorbing structures of small passenger cars. Station wagons are making a come back. Minivans are still popular for all the interior space and seating choices. Ideally, soon most buyers will recognize that a socially responsible vehicle would be just big enough, light and soft. That is a modern station wagon or a minivan, with a unitized body, a V-6 engine and front-wheel or all-wheel drive.