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February 5, 2008 9:51 AM

Is bigger better and safer?

In the automotive industry, it certainly isn't true, not to mention the ramifications to climate change that these huge SUVs bring:

Many consumers believe that the goals of a "safer car" and a "more fuel-efficient car" are at loggerheads, and that any increase in gas mileage will lead directly to increased fatalities.

This misconception is based in large part on a common assumption: The heavier the car, the safer it must be. Collectively, Americans have bought into this idea. The mass of the average personal vehicle in the U.S. has gone up 29% since 1987.

While that idea that more steel equals more protection seems intuitive, it turns out to be false. In fact, the best scientific research shows that automotive safety has nothing to do with vehicle weight, but everything to do with vehicle size and design.

Check it out: drivers of Dodge Neons or Chevy Cavaliers are twice as likely to die in their vehicles as drivers of Volkswagen Jettas or Honda Civics. It's not size that makes you safer its something called "crush zone."

Studies have proven that increasing the length of a car (its crush zone) while maintaining the same weight leads to reduced fatalities. To find out how crashworthy a vehicle really is, check its government star ratings, or its ratings and driver death rates from the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety.

Finally, there's Safety for Your Planet:

Buying a heavier (and often more expensive) car is no guarantee of safety, but it will definitely lower your gas mileage. That's because heavier cars use more fuel.
A reliance on hefty cars that aren't necessarily well designed not only compromises our safety on the road (43,000 people died in U.S. auto accidents last year), but also the safety of future generations by emitting an unnecessary amount of greenhouse gas into the atmosphere.

Luckily, in this instance there's no need to compromise between what's good for you and your family and what's better for the planet.

The more people realize that light, long, well-designed cars are safer than clunky, heavy cars, the closer we'll be to pushing the market toward smarter, lighter vehicles. And the closer we'll be toward reducing the greenhouse gases spewing from our tailpipes-some 10% of the human contribution to climate change.

Check it out...