I was recently in a disagreement with someone about the risk of rollover with regard to my F-150. I've got a stock 2000 4x4 F-150 XLT with the ORP (so I am up high). However, what I was trying to point out to this individual is that there are important differences between a truck and a SUV that make the likelihood of rollovers by truck owners less than SUVs..

1) My F-150 is significantly longer and wider than an SUV, which tends to have its center of gravity on a short, narrow wheelbase
2) My F-150 has heavier duty suspension, and my ORP has stiffer shocks than what you would find on a SUV (which typically have very soft suspension).
3) The Rollover Ratings that the NHTSA publishes are solely computed on height, width, and center of gravity. Therefore, they do not take into account actual results in tests......

Any thoughts? I personally feel that as long as I don't drive like a bat out of hell and take a hard left, I'm just as safe, if not safer, than being in a car. I would not trade my up-high view of the road for anything (it has saved me many times from an accident).

FYI, Car and Driver did an experiment about a year or two ago where they intentionally blew out a tire on a Ford (Bronco or Explorer) at 70 mphs....They could not loose control of the vehicle no matter how hard they tried, unless they braked very hard (which you aren't supposed to do in a blowout anyway).....I've often thought that perhaps some of the fault in the rollovers lied in the reaction of the drivers upon blowout (or maybe excessive speed)....Any thoughts?

 

I would say a bigger cause for roll-overs besides the higher center of gravity all depends on the road condition and driving ability.

For instance if you have a blow-out, flat tire and are turning hard and happen to hit the rim in a pot-hole in the road you are probabley going over. Hit a crack in the road, bump you name it and thing that can catch part of the tire and your going. Speed to has some play in it. Look at Nascar for instance usally they may be to speeds of 150mph spin and not have much problem if all the tires are up and they stay on the track, usally when they go to the infield and hit the grass or a small hole, ditch there going for a ride.

Depending on the speed, and I would imagen even at 60mph you get one side of a car, truck, high 4X4 truck up in the air in the right conditions and now its like a giant air brake, thus the reason Nascar added the roof flaps to help brake the air flow when the car is sideways. It brakes up the air flowing causing resistance which helps hold the car down.

All these Explorer roll overs didn't just happen because they were a little bit higher, they happen, in my opinion because after the tire blew out at freeway speeds they got sideways and the rim with the blown tire caught something in the road and up and away. I would be willing to bet in just about all the cases the drivers freaked out when the blow out occured further reducing good judgement it getting the truck stopped.

I apoligize for the short story here I just find it hard to believe that alot of people relate roll-overs due to high center of gravity, yes it is a factor but a very small one.

 

01 XLT.... to piggyback on what you said the only rollover of an SUV that I know of personally was a fried who lost control and slid sidways into a curb. When she hit it was estimated her speed was less than 35 mph.

My wife likes to drive fast and has not had any problems with her Explorer feeling unsteady or like it was going over.

I too believe it has alot to do with driver reactions and abilities.

 

01

What I can't figure out is that trucks have been around forever, and just about the same height, granted I am a little higher because of my ORP. But it wasn't until SUVs came along that everyone started noticing rollovers....

And what you are saying holds some truth to it, they say that 80% of rollovers involve only one car (the rollover-ee) when they go off road. During a blowout the best thing to do is keep your foot on the gas and ease it off the road, or else the pull will be to great. Slamming on the brakes let's the sideways motion pull you over into the grass still going at a high rate of speed, and it's when that flat tire (which already is got more friction because of the rim digging into concrete) hits the dirt and grass and digs in big-time is when you start to lose it...

I simply don't see the risk. I drive my truck like a truck. I think by owning a truck I am safer than owning a car.

 

I absolutely agee with you cpadpl. Owning a truck is MUCH safer then owning a car especially since its (may be wrong term) frame line sits higher then a car. In other words if a car runs into the back of my truck (not a 4X4 or any lift) they are not necessarily going to make frame to frame contact. They will tend to hit under my truck, MUCH more dangerious to the car running into me. Now if I was to run into a car then still no frame to frame contact but rather I would be crushing in his trunk, MUCH safer for me since less chance of injurys to me due to my frame "would not" get a whole lot of damage thus pushing parts of my truck into the passenger compartment.

You like I (even though I have no lift kit) sit higher then cars, thus our visability is much greater in turn making us more aware of any on-coming situations, everybody ahead breaking, someone spinning etc. Trucks are always safer then cars and minivans.

Like I had stated earlier alot of people confuse roll-overs and why they happen. Granted you do have 4X4 rolling over off road but many times that is due to road conditions, holes, ruts, etc. and of course inclines, hills etc., that is where the higher center of gravity would play an effect in a 4X4 rolling over before a car. For example say your trying to drive up sideways on a 10% incline the higher sitting truck would roll over before a car would. Again that is all about off-road and who is going to take their car off-road.

The one thing I would note about a 4X4 having a higher chance of rolling over on normal roads are like them Isusu's (sp?) they were kind of like jeeps, very short wheel base yet had some height to them. You take something with such a short wheel base and put some height on it and it tends to be more prone to rolling over if the wheels are turned hard in one direction or the other, or high winds. If you lifted a VW bug say 6" or 8" go down the road maybe at 35 - 40mph make a hard left or right turn I would be willing to bet it would want to roll over if not corrected in time.

Our trucks on the other hand have enough wheel base that they are no more prone to rolling over then a regualar car. Now ricers are a completely different story, hell a decent wind of say 30mph hitting the side of them could blow them right off the road... LOL

 

does the front-heavy thing have anything to do with reduced rollovers?