Like handguns, sport utility vehicles represent a major cultural faultline in America today. In this brilliant book, �High and Mighty, SUVs: The World�s Most Dangerous Vehicles and How They Got That Way,� Keith Bradsher clearly explains why the SUV has become so controversial. In the process, he makes a convincing case for discouraging anyone from ever choosing to buy or drive one of these so-called �light trucks.�
First of all, however, it must be said that SUVs tend to arouse powerful emotions and bring out the worst in people on both sides of the debate. Those against SUVs often adopt an infuriating tone of sanctimonious self-righteousness and moral superiority on the subject. On the other hand, SUV enthusiasts frequently seem unwilling or unable to accept the unpleasant facts about their cherished, monster-sized chariots.
For the record, I am horrified by how much SUVs contribute to air pollution, the consumption of our natural resources, and the safety hazards on our roads, but I also have friends who own SUVs. And while I would never want one myself, I respect their freedom to have a different opinion. This is something many SUV opponents apparently fail to understand. It is just plain stupid for The Detroit Project to air asinine TV commercials that equate driving an SUV with sponsoring international terrorism. You cannot guilt-trip people into changing their behavior.
This is where �High and Mighty� performs such a great service. It is an excellent and even-handed work. Rather than merely preaching to the converted, Bradsher puts forth a balanced and persuasive argument that appeals to the reader�s common sense. As a former �New York Times� bureau chief in Detroit, Bradsher developed valuable contacts within the American automobile industry, and he goes out of his way to be fair to the many chief executives, mechanical engineers, and marketers he so carefully cultivated as sources.
Critics who condemn this book as being biased or one-sided are revealing more about their own insecurity than accurately describing the author�s commitment to professional standards of journalism. Yes, it is true that Bradsher espouses a particular point of view (and it is obvious that he considers SUVs an ecological and public health menace), but he also gives the Big Three automakers credit where credit is due. For example, he devotes an entire chapter to covering how Ford chairman Bill Ford tried to clean up the fuel emissions and improve the gas mileage of his company�s SUVs, only to find his efforts derailed when �The Ford Explorer-Firestone Tire Debacle� exploded in his face and brought an abrupt end to his good intentions.
Indeed, the reviewers who accuse Bradsher of having a liberal ax to grind should surely be honest enough to admit that he reserves some of his most scathing criticism for environmentalist tree-huggers. According to Bradsher, the environmentalists are more or less a loosely organized demographic of dilettantes and hypocrites who mean well but are incapable of helping to solve the problems caused by SUVs.
He essentially says that groups like the Sierra Club were slow to recognize and respond to the destructive impact of these vehicles because: 1) many of their own members drive them and they were reluctant to alienate their own people; 2) young �Green� activists would rather pay lip-service to their trendy cause in glamorous big cities like New York and Washington, DC than watch what the manufacturers of SUVs are doing in provincial Detroit; and 3) they are too fond of technological quick fixes (such as electric cars) that are unlikely to have practical applications anytime soon.
Unfortunately, SUV die-hards appear not to want to be confused with facts. One of the most interesting parts of �High and Mighty� is the chapter called �Reptile Dreams,� where Bradsher uses the auto industry�s own psychological profiles of the �typical� customer who purchases an SUV. It is not a pretty picture. Generally speaking, the market for these �light trucks� is composed of people who place appearance over practicality and style over substance. Although certainly not true of everyone who gets an SUV, this impression would seem to be borne out by the the increasingly menacing designs of the bigger vehicles and the overheated language many SUV owners use to defend them.
For instance, as with gun nuts, a lot of SUV fans love to talk endlessly about their �right� to drive (or �shoot�) whatever they want, but you never hear them acknowledge their concomitant responsibilities to their community or to the other people around them. This is an ultimately unsustainable approach to life in a civilized society and it raises disturbing questions about the future of our country.
Bradsher is basically a business reporter at heart, though, and he leaves these troubling implications largely unexplored. He talks at length about how SUVs are accidents waiting to happen (among other reasons, because they are so tall that they block the view of the car drivers and pedestrians behind them), but he does not recommend any actions that could be taken to reduce the popularity of these vehicles. On the contrary, Bradsher grimly refers to the paradox of �network externalities� (best defined by the old adage, �If you can�t beat �em, join �em�) in which he speculates that the number of SUVs on the road may soon reach such a critical mass that people break down and buy one just out of sheer survival instinct or a desire to conform.
Americans like their vehicles to be as big as possible, and now the logical consequences of that mentality are proving more lethal than ever. In that context, �High and Mighty� is a meticulously researched and well written warning about how corporate greed, misguided regulatory loopholes, and consumer vanity combine to keep traffic fatalities so depressingly common. For anyone with an open mind, this book will be a refreshing change from the commercial cheerleading of most of the automotive press. �High and Mighty� is 468 pages of subversion that challenges the conventional wisdom of �bigger is better� and will make you reconsider what you drive and why.
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