The purpose of the present study is to examine in detail the crash experience of leading utility vehicle models to determine the extent to which there are variations in their crash experience and whether specific models appear to have particular problems, such as high rollover accident rates. This study focuses on the three leading utility vehicles--the AMC Jeep CJ-5, the Ford Bronco and the Chevrolet Blazer--that represent well over half of the utility vehicles currently in use. For the Jeep CJ-5 the model years studied were 1972 to 1978; for the Chevrolet Blazer, 1973 to 1978 (prior to the 1973 model the Blazer was smaller); and for the Ford Bronco, 1972 to 1977 (the 1978 and later model Broncos were larger). For comparison purposes, the crash experience of a number of leading small (half-ton) pickup truck models was used. These were the Ford F-100 and F-150, the Chevrolet C-10 and K-10, and the smaller Toyota and Datsun pickup trucks. In addition, the crash experience of four passenger car size groups--subcompacts, compacts, intermediate, and full-sized--was examined. The overall crash experience of these vehicles in Maryland and in North Carolina, together with the national fatal crash experience as recorded by FARS (the Fatal Accident Reporting System), were studied.
Samenvatting