High and Mighty: The Dangerous Rise of the SUV

Keith Bradsher9781586482039, 1586482033

Keith Bradsher has been at the forefront of critical SUV coverage since his posting as Detroit bureau chief for the New York Times from January 1996, through August 2001. While in Detroit, Bradsher won the George Polk Award and was a finalist for the Pulitzer Prize for being the first reporter to cover the many problems created by SUVs.Winner of the New York Public Library Helen Bernstein Book Award for Excellence in JournalismWinner of The Washington Monthly’s 2002 Annual Political Book AwardA New York Times Notable Book of the YearA BookSense 76 PickSince High and Mighty was published in the Fall of 2002, regulators and consumers have become increasingly suspicious of sport utility vehicles and their poor safety records, heavy air pollution, and misleading marketing. Yet SUV sales continue to rise, leading average fuel consumption of new vehicles to a twenty- two year low and pushing traffic deaths to the highest level since 1990. As aging SUVs enter the used market, the problem is likely to grow much worse.Bradsher makes a powerful case that these vehicles are much worse than cars-for their occupants, for other motorists, for pedestrians, and for the planet itself. In so doing, he pulls off a work of investigative journalism that shows how a flawed regulatory system, a desperate Detroit, and our national love for “bigger and better” have combined to create this highway arms race.The paperback includes an epilogue covering new developments and an appendix explaining how to drive an SUV more safely.

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Table of contents :
EEn……Page 1
High and Mighty – The Dangerous Rise of the SUV……Page 2
Praise for High and Mighty……Page 3
Copyright Info……Page 6
Dedication……Page 7
TOC……Page 8
Acknowledgments……Page 10
Introduction……Page 13
Part One – The Birth of the SUV……Page 22
1 – Early Rumblings……Page 23
2 – Reviving A Corpse……Page 38
3 – Creating the Ford Explorer……Page 63
4 – Paving the Road to Ever Bigger SUVs……Page 81
5 – The SUV Economy……Page 101
6 – Reptile Dreams……Page 113
Part Two – The Dark Side of the SUV……Page 144
7 – The Myth of Four-Wheel-Drive Safety……Page 145
8 – Rollovers……Page 167
9 – Kill Rates……Page 184
10 – The SUV Insurance Subsidy……Page 225
11 – Trouble for Cities……Page 239
12 – Global Warming, Gasoline Mileage, and a Gentlemen’s Agreement……Page 256
13 – Seducing the Press……Page 289
14 – The Green Prince……Page 300
15 – The Ford Explorer-Firestone Tire Debacle……Page 321
Part Three – The Future of the SUV……Page 357
16 – The Next Drivers of SUVs……Page 358
17 – Crossover Utilities……Page 369
18 – The Schwarzenegger Dividend……Page 377
19 – The Triumph of SUVs……Page 399
20 – Finding a Way Out……Page 430
Epilogue……Page 444
Myths and Realities About SUVs……Page 460
The Family Tree of Automobiles……Page 467
How to Improve Safety in Buying or Driving an SUV……Page 474
Notes……Page 476
Index……Page 489