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High and Mighty: SUVs--The World's Most Dangerous Vehicles and How They Got That Way
 
 
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High and Mighty: SUVs--The World's Most Dangerous Vehicles and How They Got That Way (Hardcover)

~ (Author) "At Henry Ford's mansion outside Detroit, the carved wood busts supporting the ceiling in the ballroom show the inventor of the Model T and three..." (more)
Key Phrases: crash compatibility, large light trucks, crossover utility vehicles, United States, Ford Motor, Bill Ford (more...)
3.6 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (80 customer reviews)


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Editorial Reviews

From Library Journal

Sport Utility Vehicles (SUVs) have become the fastest-growing market segment in the automobile industry. They have an image of being safer and easier to handle in bad weather than traditional passenger cars. But in this new expos , New York Times reporter Bradsher delivers sobering facts about the conveyances: they protect occupants poorly, inflict horrific damage in crashes, guzzle gasoline, spew emissions, and are, in fact, difficult to control in bad weather or panic situations. He traces the checkered past of SUVs and how they came to be classified not as cars but as light trucks, which are subject to softer federal regulations regarding safety, gas mileage, and air pollution. The recent recall of tires and SUVs by Ford and Firestone after scores of roll-over deaths is apparently only the tip of the iceberg. Bradsher makes a powerful case that SUVs are inflicting great damage on their occupants, other motorists, pedestrians, and the earth. While the information has been available for some time in bits and pieces, this book is the first to put it all together with documented facts and figures. In the tradition of Ralph Nader's Unsafe at Any Speed, this should be read by drivers of SUVs and all those who must share the roads with them.
Eric C. Shoaf, Brown Univ. Lib., Providence
Copyright 2002 Reed Business Information, Inc.


From Booklist

The behemoths among autos, SUVs are dangerous gas-guzzlers exempted from the safety and environmental rules that apply to other autos because they are classified as light trucks. Bradsher, an award-winning journalist who reported on the Ford-Firestone rollover controversy, details how SUVs came to enjoy such protection and such enormous popularity. From its precursor in the 1930s, favored by the funeral business, through the twist of fate that saw trade protection for frozen chickens morph into protection of SUV manufacturers, to the irony that the baby boom generation that championed environmental safety is also responsible for the huge popularity of the SUV, Bradsher offers compelling reading. The author interviewed the auto executives and engineers behind the SUV and documents the danger to occupants, other motorists, pedestrians, and the environment of a car model that continues to grow in size and heft. This fascinating history and troubling analysis of both the politics and the design of the SUV should appeal to readers on both sides of the debate. Vanessa Bush
Copyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved

Product Details

  • Hardcover: 464 pages
  • Publisher: PublicAffairs; 1 edition (September 17, 2002)
  • Language: English
  • ISBN-10: 1586481231
  • ISBN-13: 978-1586481230
  • Product Dimensions: 9.4 x 6.4 x 1.7 inches
  • Shipping Weight: 1.9 pounds
  • Average Customer Review: 3.6 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (80 customer reviews)
  • Amazon.com Sales Rank: #593,309 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

    Popular in these categories: (What's this?)

    #4 in  Books > Professional & Technical > Engineering > Automotive > Safety Engineering
    #98 in  Books > Nonfiction > Automotive > Sport Utility Vehicles

More About the Author

Keith Bradsher
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Inside This Book (learn more)
First Sentence:
At Henry Ford's mansion outside Detroit, the carved wood busts supporting the ceiling in the ballroom show the inventor of the Model T and three close friends, all famous: Harvey Firestone, founder of the tire company that bears his name; Thomas Edison, inventor of the lightbulb and phonograph; and John Burroughs, the naturalist. Read the first page
Key Phrases - Statistically Improbable Phrases (SIPs): (learn more)
crash compatibility, large light trucks, crossover utility vehicles, crossover utilities, rollover death rate, auto lobbyists, other auto executives, chicken tax, occupant death rate, other light trucks, grille guards, auto writers, average gas mileage, million registered vehicles, auto engineers, own occupants, hood height, tall vehicles, liability rates, other automakers, crumple zones, foreign automakers, frontal crash, mileage standards, other motorists
Key Phrases - Capitalized Phrases (CAPs): (learn more)
United States, Ford Motor, Bill Ford, American Motors, New York, Kaiser Jeep, Land Rover, General Motors, World War, Transportation Department, Big Three, Henry Ford, Range Rover, Ford Explorer, State Farm, Ford Expedition, Ford Taurus, Jeep Grand Cherokee, Lincoln Navigator, North American, Jeep Cherokee, Bob Lutz, Los Angeles, Michigan Truck Plant, Van Etten
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High and Mighty: SUVs--The World's Most Dangerous Vehicles and How They Got That Way
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Customer Reviews

80 Reviews
5 star:
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4 star:
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3 star:
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Average Customer Review
3.6 out of 5 stars (80 customer reviews)
 
 
 
 
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Most Helpful Customer Reviews

 
123 of 126 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars SUV Owners Are Mad!, September 22, 2002
SUV owners are mad! Mad at Keith Bradsher's controversial new book, High and Mighty SUV's: the World's Most Dangerous Vehicles and How They Got That Way ...In addition to Bradsher's historical survey of how SUVs got to be so large and so profitable, he's managed to produce the most important look at motor vehicle safety since Ralph Nader's 1965 Landmark Unsafe At Any Speed. Many of us owe Mr. Nader our lives, even though Unsafe At Any Speed was attacked in much the same manner as Bradsher's Book is now. Today even Detroit's Big Three agree that Nader spoke the truth 37 years ago, keep that in mind when you read the negative reviews of Bradsher's book. The vast majority of Americans trust the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) to keep unsafe cars and trucks off America's roadways. I don't, NHTSA's relationship with Detroit remains much the same as Arthur Andersen's is to Enron.

The sport utility vehicle is a uniquely American phenomenon originally created for the Army during WWII. Since then it has become the vehicle of choice for middle and upper class executives and soccer moms, few of whom (less than 5%) will ever use its off-road capabilities. This book should be required reading for anyone thinking about purchasing an SUV, especially since most current SUV owners mistakenly believe themselves to be safer than motorists driving regular cars. Bradsher points out that SUVs contribute to more than 3000 needless highway deaths annually - a toll greater than that of Sept 11th's World Trade Center disaster. The public needs to know that rollover death rates for sport-utes are double those of regular passenger cars and that SUVs kill non-passengers as well, causing an additional 2,000 deaths a year in vehicles they strike. Less well known is the tendency of SUVs such as the Ford Explorer to flip over after striking a guardrail or having a tire fail - problems that don't effect cars. Combined with the facts that sport-utilities pollute more, are harder to control, utilize under-sized brakes and consume more fuel than cars (all because of increased weight), SUV buyers need to think twice before purchasing these tanks on wheels. He concludes, "SUVs represent the biggest menace to public safety and the environment that the auto industry has produced since the bad old days of the 1960s."

Not surprisingly, Detroit doesn't want prospective SUV buyers to read this book. Fearful of biting the hand that feeds them (SUVs account for the majority of the Big Three's profits), automotive journalists have publicly dismissed the book as nothing more than one man's Jihad against SUVs. In case you're unaware, auto manufacturers give automotive journalists free use of a new car 24/7 in addition to frequent press junkets to Europe and elsewhere to test-drive or observe their latest models. No wonder they started attacking the book weeks before it came out.

As the publisher of crashtest.com, smartmotorist.com, smartcarguide.com, and carshownews.com I'm no stranger to the SUV controversy, as I've been campaigning against SUVs online for the past 7 years. Bradsher is a well respected, Pulitzer Prize nominated reporter, known primarily for his investigation of the Ford-Firestone rollover scandal. High and Mighty accurately portrays the facts as I know them and provides insight into the way Detroit and the Federal Government cooperate behind closed doors. I highly recommend this book to anyone interested in cars, trucks or highway safety.

...

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78 of 86 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars "A reader from hartford ct" Misquoted the Author, September 30, 2002
By T. Hartman (San Francisco, CA USA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   
To the "reader from hartford ct" (but more likely an auto industry plant from Detroit) who's review is dated Sept 19, 2002: For someone who says he/she read the book, you're extremely dishonest when you misquote Bradsher as saying: "They tend to be people who are insecure and vain. They are frequently nervous about their marriages and uncomfortable about parenthood. They often lack confidence in their driving skills. Above all, they are apt to be self-centered and self-absorbed, with little interest in their neighbors or communities." He didn't say this!! He was quoting the AUTO INDUSTRY's market reports! It's the people who are selling you the SUVs who think you are insecure and vain, not Bradshaw.

My recommendation to people in the market for a vehicle: Be informed about saftey for you and others, fuel economy, air pollution, etc., and make sure you balance this with what you need/want in a vehicle. If you really will go off-roading, tow a boat, etc., then go ahead and get the SUV, but please don't use 2 parking spots or ones that are too narrow for your SUV, and don't tailgate.

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34 of 35 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars In the tradition of Fast Food Nation, September 21, 2002
By A Customer
High and Mighty will do for the auto industry, what Fast Food Nation did for the fast food indsutry: Expose all of its harmful shortcomings. High and Mighty shows that SUVs are NOT merely a guilty pleasure, they are dangerous and costly.

If Mr. Bradsher's many critics would actually read High and Mighty, they would see that the classicficatoin of SUV owners as being vain, insecure drivers is NOT his opinion, it is taken directly from the market research conducted by the car manufacturers. Yes, the very people you are buying your SUV from have stereotyped you...

Intelligent readers, pro and anti SUV alike, I strongly urge you to buy High and Mighty, and to read it. Learn the truth!

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Most Recent Customer Reviews

1.0 out of 5 stars High and Mighty:SUVsThe worlds most dangerous vehicles and how they got that Way:Alarmist Book.
Another Alarmist Book(Ralph Nader's Unsafe at any Speed included)about How SUV'S are Dangerous, Of Course They are! Read more
Published 20 days ago by Jose Lopez

4.0 out of 5 stars Forecasts our driving future
In the past two decades, the marriage of news and entertainment, and the takeover of news outlets by large corporations have led to a gradual decline of good news; i.e. Read more
Published 24 months ago by Newton Ooi

5.0 out of 5 stars Hits it right on the mark....
Ironically, on Fri. Dec 8, 2006, my wife and I have had the unpleasant experience of a black Toyota 4 Runner tailgating us literally what was less than a few inches as the driver... Read more
Published on December 11, 2006 by A. Yeomans

1.0 out of 5 stars Tell this guy to go back to Europe.
Ridiculous

This book truly sucks, if people want to buy SUV'S then that's their right. Read more
Published on August 5, 2006 by Christopher

4.0 out of 5 stars Very convincing, but EXTREMELY LONG AND BLOATED!
Pros: Many good arguments, good history. Managed to convince me (a big one, for someone as stubborn as me).

Cons:
Riddled with too many weak arguments. Read more
Published on January 5, 2006 by DrPizza

3.0 out of 5 stars Lays out the case against SUVs.
What is an SUV ? The author defines one as , having Four wheel drive standard or on demand , an enclosed rear cargo bay , high ground clearance , decended from a pickup truck... Read more
Published on March 24, 2005 by Some Guy

5.0 out of 5 stars Keep driving, when the oil's gone we'll get out of Iraq
Maybe I am a coastal elitist, but I'm not against letting rancher Bob in Montana drive whatever he wants, SUVs are only a public problem in densely populated areas, where they... Read more
Published on March 1, 2005 by prophet of doom

5.0 out of 5 stars This book is hard to put down
I have watched with complete bewilderment the growing popularity of SUVs. They are too big to fit in many parking spaces and parking garages. Read more
Published on May 11, 2004

4.0 out of 5 stars Down With SUVs
HIGH AND MIGHTY is an outstanding book, that documents the many negatives and downfalls of the SUV. Read more
Published on May 5, 2004 by Ramone Sanders

4.0 out of 5 stars Inconvenient for SUV folks, but solid nonetheless
Like other high-raters, I'm not persuaded by Bradsher on every point. Sometimes he describes SUV design progress in ways that are quite reassuring, even in the middle of... Read more
Published on January 26, 2004 by christopher wren

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