SUV Rollovers

Sport utility vehicles (SUVs) have a rollover-related occupant fatality rate which is double the average for all vehicles types, according to the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration.

Sport utility vehicles have higher ground clearance for off-road use and a higher center of gravity that NHTSA officials believe are key factors in the higher rollover rate.

There are 98 rollovers per 1 million sport utility vehicles each year, compared with 47 rollovers per 1 million for all vehicles.

Vehicle manufacturers are aware of the rollover problem. They have been installing government-mandated warning labels for almost 20 years warning motorists that the ''vehicle may roll over'' if the driver makes sharp turns, such as in an accident-avoidance situation. However, warning of a problem and correcting it with better design engineering are not the same.

In 1996, about 30 percent of all passenger deaths involved crashes in which a vehicle rolled over. Single-vehicle rollover crashes accounted for 19 percent of passenger deaths in cars, compared with 35 percent in pickups and 53 percent in utility vehicles, according to the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety. More than 9,000 people die each year in accidents in which vehicles roll over.

Pickups also have a higher rate of rollover than passengers cars. Some 57 pickups roll over per million registered vehicles each year compared with 28 per million for midsize cars, according to government crash data.