RUV Rollover Accident: Arkansas Democrat-Gazette (Little Rock), "Arkansas underdog bites big SUV makers in their bank accounts"

          Attorney Tab Turner discovered a 1988 internal Ford analysis of federal statistics in which Ford projected there would be 141 rollover deaths a year for every 1 million Bronco IIs made. It actually turned out worse than that. One out of every 500 Bronco IIs, or about 2,000 per million, were involved in a fatal rollover crash. The Ford Explorer, the successor to the Bronco, did a little better: From 1990 to 2000, one in 2,700 resulted in a rollover death, Turner discovered in his research.
          Ford quit making the Bronco II in 1989. Turner doesn't believe any of the smaller truck-based SUVs are safe from rolling over in an emergency. That includes the Ford Explorer, Chevrolet S-10 Blazer, Nissan Pathfinder, Toyota 4 Runner, Kia Sportage or any "midsized to small sport utility vehicle," Turner said.
          Most of those SUVs have been revised in recent years and the manufacturers say they are safe. But Turner said the combination of relatively short wheelbases, narrow width and high centers of gravity make the vehicles dangerous when the driver swerves quickly to avoid a collision or an object in the road. When the driver is confronted with an "emergency avoidance" situation, the likelihood of rolling over in small five-passenger SUVs is nine out of 10 times, Turner said.