U.S. to Propose Strong SUV Rollover Warning Labels

The government’s highway safety agency will propose strongly worded labels for sport-utility vehicles, prompted by statistics showing their risk of rollover is double that of other vehicles.

The labels proposed by the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration would use bright colors and show a vehicle tipping sideways with the words: “Warning: High Risk of Rollover,” according to documents obtained Wednesday by the Associated Press.

The agency proposal, to be unveiled today, would apply to most sport-utilities, including such popular models as General Motors’ Chevy Blazer and Chrysler’s Jeep Grand Cherokee. But it would not apply to larger SUVs with a wheelbase over 110 inches.

“Sport-utility vehicles have the highest rollover-related occupant fatality rate--double the average for all vehicle types,” said NHTSA Administrator Ricardo Martinez. “We want to make sport-utility drivers aware of the need for care in certain maneuvers [such as sharp turns] because these vehicles drive very differently from passenger cars.”

Sport-utilities have higher ground clearance for off-road use and a higher center of gravity that agency officials believe is a key factor in the higher rollover rate.

There are 98 rollovers per million sport-utility vehicles each year, compared with 47 rollovers per million for all vehicles.

A warning label already is required for SUVs, but it is a 20-year-old text-only label that tells motorists the “vehicle may roll over” in sharp turns.

Barry Felrice of the American Automobile Manufacturers Assn. said the Big Three domestic auto makers would “look at the proposal carefully.”

In 1996, about 30% of all passenger deaths involved crashes in which a vehicle rolled over. Single-vehicle rollover crashes accounted for 19% of passenger deaths in cars, compared with 35% in pickups and 53% in SUVs, according to the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety.