Massachusetts Personal Injury Lawyer Blog

SUVs: Are Consumers Being Duped into Thinking they’re Safe?

Why are SUVs so attractive to the average car buyer? 

Clever marketing, perhaps. 

The automakers use several marketing techniques to entice you to purchase an SUV rather than another vehicle. Because of their evocative commercials and ads, most people assume that SUVs are safer to drive than other vehicles when in fact studies have shown the SUVs are prone to severe injuries from rollovers and ejections (though this is not mentioned in their advertising). 

The commercials show SUVs being driven through forests, in the mountains, or across the desert. However, very few SUVs are ever driven in these types of terrain and even if they are, the narrow wheelbase and tendency to tip makes them dangerous.

Even the names given to different models are designed to appeal to the adventurous spirit, not a soccer mom. 

Wouldn't you much rather be driving a vehicle that makes you think of exciting off-road adventures than one that makes you think of an ordinary drive?

When a driver feels safe, he or she might not drive as carefully as would someone driving a smaller vehicle. The driver feels that the size of the SUV provides protection, but it really doesn't due to numerous design flaws.

SUV drivers are less likely to wear seatbelts, again believing that the size of the vehicle will protect them. 

When you decide to purchase a new vehicle, check the vehicle safety rating before you buy.  Make sure the automakers don't affect your decision with their deceptive advertising. 

Massachusetts personal injury lawyer, Thomas M. Kiley, is a member of the Massachusetts Bar Association and is a respected member of the American Association for Justice and the Massachusetts Academy of Trial Attorneys.

The personal injury attorneys at the Law Office of Kiley Law Group are dedicated to helping the victims of:

• Car, motorcycle, truck, van or bus accident
• Single vehicle accidents such as SUV or 15-passenger van rollovers
• Pedestrian accidents such as a hit and run
• Defective products such as ineffective airbags or seatbelts, prescription drugs with unpublicized side-effects, or hazardous children's toys
• Child injury and child abuse such as negligence
• Birth injuries such as trauma during labor or cerebral palsy

We Serve Clients Across the State of Massachusetts
The firm's headquarters are in Andover, MA and serves the following cities in Massachusetts: Boston, Danvers, Haverhill, Lawrence, Lowell, Methuen, Middleton, Reading, and Salem, MA and Salem, New Hampshire.