Over the years, SUVs have been known to attribute a higher risk of causing increased bodily harm to drivers in other cars after a car accident occurs. But now a new study by the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety (IIHS) shows that SUVs and even some pickups are less risky for other drivers on the road, USA Today reported.

The reduction in risk is partially attributed to the improved crash safety that cars and minivans have experienced over the last decade. Technology like airbags, side-impact improvements, and stability control have offered cars increased safety in the face of the danger that SUVs typically introduced to our roadways. But what’s more, car manufacturers have worked with government officials to improve design of SUVs and pickups including a redesign of front bumpers, contributing to the increased safety other drivers have when sharing the road with an SUV.

The safety changes come in wake of the overwhelming statistics that suggest SUVs have been responsible for higher cases of injury after they are involved in car accidents with smaller cars. Size has long been an obvious, unfair advantage as to car accident injury protection. But now as part of their efforts to help stabilize the changing vehicle mix on our roadways, the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) worked with automakers to address the issue with new, better-designed safety recommendation. Auto manufacturers were eager to comply with safety recommendations to redesign their SUVs front ends so that “their energy-absorbing structures would line up better with those of cars, reducing the likelihood that an SUV or pickup would override a car in a collision.”

As a part of the safety initiative, automakers agreed to increase head protection to better improve side-impact car accidents.

“By working together, the automakers got life-saving changes done quickly,” says the Institute’s chief administrative officer. “The new designs have made a big difference on the road.”

The deadline for implementing the safety standards was Sept. 2009, but many car manufacturers were eager to get their redesigns on the road. After an analysis of 2004 models, 54 percent of SUVs and pickups were compliant with new safety recommendations made by the NHTSA, thereby contributing to the findings of the new study concluded at the IIHS.

About the Pines Salomon Injury Lawyers, APC.

Michael Pines, founder, has been helping injured people in San Diego seek fair financial recovery since 1992. With three ongoing accident prevention and safety columns at the La Jolla Light, Del Mar Times, and Rancho Santa Fe Review, Michael has been a trusted legal advisor for many injured people throughout San Diego County. For a free and confidential legal review of your car accident injury case, call us now at 1-858-551-2090 or submit your case online.