Kinder, gentler SUVs kill fewer people

This post comes from Des Toups at partner site CarInsurance.com.

SUVs aren't killing nearly as many people as they once did.

In data released Wednesday, the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety said changes to the design of high-riding pickups and sport-utilities, combined with improvements such as side airbags in cars, had lowered the death rate in the vehicles they struck, by nearly two-thirds in some cases.

That's a big change from the beginning of the decade -- the peak of the sport-utility craze -- when insurers such as Farmers and State Farm raised rates for drivers of SUVs, citing the outsized damage that the vehicles caused. In 2000-01, occupants in cars and minivans hit by sport-utilities died twice as often as those hit by other cars and minivans.

Today, the IIHS says, as the occupant of a midsize car or van, you're as safe being hit by an SUV as you are by another car. Slightly safer, in fact.

The IIHS notes that physics haven't changed: That is, a light car hit by a heavy SUV still won't fare very well. But for vehicles in the same weight classes, it's a fair fight. Post continues after video.

Warp speed

In regulatory terms, automakers and safety officials addressed the mismatch between cars and trucks at warp speed. After meetings in 2003 to discuss design changes to better align the impact-absorbing structures of light trucks with the cars they hit, improvement came quickly. Among 2004 models, 54% of SUVs and pickups met the new front-end requirements, the IIHS said, and among 2007 models, 81% did.

"By working together, the automakers got life-saving changes done quickly," says Joe Nolan, co-author of the new study. "The new designs have made a big difference on the road."

That's reflected in insurance rates, where reduced liability risk has made small sport-utilities such as the Ford Escape and Hyundai Tucson among the cheapest vehicles of any kind to insure.

More on CarInsurance.com and MSN Money:

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• How does your vehicle compare on insurance rates?
• Secrets of car insurance adjusters
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