Deadly or Eco-Friendly?

There have been many complaints about the regular SUVs. For one, safety isn't exactly a strong point of contention since SUVs have better chances of rolling over during accidents than regular passenger cars, further increasing the occurrences of death and serious injuries.

SUVs are three times more likely to roll over than other cars, while small SUVs are four times more likely. Based on past reports, there were more fatal crashes involving SUVs than any other types of vehicles. Furthermore, these SUVs present more danger to smaller vehicles since their crash compatibilities are low. SUV owners also get stuck with high operational and maintenance costs that are dealt by factors like insurance charges that are higher than usual, low fuel efficiency, expensive parts, and many more.

Although the profile of an average SUV owner isn't too comforting (speed demons, macho rule-breakers, and the like), the aforementioned drawbacks of SUVs are still at the control of their users. Drivers may choose to take precaution on the road to prevent accidents, or may take extra care of their SUVs to avoid pricey maintenance costs.

The same cannot be said for the regular SUV's biggest drawback, particularly its fuel inefficiency. It is widely known that SUVs are vehicles that churn a huge amount of fuel, especially diesel. Unlike in smaller cars, more and more Carbon Dioxide is emitted to the atmosphere per mile that an SUV travels, officially making it an environmental hazard and a catalyst to global warming.

However, technology has truly outpaced itself as SUVs with better fuel economy are being introduced in the market today. These are in the form of Crossover and Hybrid SUVs.

Gone are the days of the heavyweights as Crossover SUVs have lightweight frames that will enable them to travel faster per fuel churn, translating to lower amounts of Carbon Dioxide emitted given a distance. In older SUV models, overall weight has been an issue as to why the mileage per gallon is lower than most automobiles.

Furthermore, Hybrid SUVs are products of the latest breakthroughs in technology. In these vehicles, fuel isn't the only source of power anymore as electricity also has a hand in it. How can this be? There are actually two types for hybrid cars, varying on the setup between the fuel-powered engine and the electric-powered engine.

The first type is the Parallel Hybrid SUV, which has a gasoline-powered engine and an electric-powered engine running at the same time, working together in charging the SUV. The other type is the Series Hybrid SUV, which has a setup of a gasoline engine charging an electric motor (or batteries that are running it), the SUV's main source of power.

Due to the emergence of a new line of SUVs and the latest technologies, owners can now enjoy that same feeling of driving an SUV without feeling guilty of its effects on the environment. With more and more people getting conscious for the environment, it won't be long before the demand, which regular SUVs have been enjoying for so long, shifts to these Eco-friendly SUVs.