NEW YORK -- A study conducted by the Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia and State Farm Insurance Companies indicated that, as far as children are concerned, SUVs’ benefits of size are offset by their increased risk of rolling over, making them no safer than ordinary passenger cars, according to CNN.com. The research found that rollover crashes occurred twice as frequently in SUVs as in passenger cars and children were three times more likely to be injured in a rollover crash than in a non-rollover accident. It also found that children who were not properly restrained in an SUV were 25 times more likely to suffer a serious injury in a rollover crash than those in a car seat or safety belt. In addition, nearly half of all children who were not properly restrained in an SUV rollover were seriously hurt. The study looked at crashes reported to State Farm involving 3,933 child occupants between the ages of 0 and 15 years who were in either SUVs or passenger cars that were model year 1998 or newer. Previous research from the hospital has shown that heavier vehicles are generally safer than lighter vehicles within their own class. That is, a big car is safer than a small car and a large SUV is safer than a smaller one.
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