Reply to USA Today Car Safety Article

[DrG]

Sometime early last week, USAToday ran a story relating car safety to the size of the car. The story pointed out that in an accident, small cars as a group, are not as safe as larger cars. In the Thursday edition, one reader wrote in to say that environmental concerns are more important than any other factor since large cars cause climate change, hurricanes, floods and famines. One reader wrote in to say his Volkswagen Jetta is safe because he walked away after being hit by a motorcycle, and one reader wrote in to say that since small cars are more agile therefore they can weave in and out of traffic and be a smaller target. (Where do they find these people and why don’t they go to work and be useful?) But, here’s the final reply to the story:

The Hummer Stays

My wife and I lease a Hummer H3. We recognize that this is not the best car for the environment, and we take quite a bit of flak from family and friends. Earlier this summer, we thought about terminating the lease early and getting a much smaller, more environmentally friendly car.
Two weeks ago, we were on vacation in Gettysburg, Pa, with our two young children. We were traveling on a state route with a 55 mph speed limit. The kids were in the back in their car seats. As I slowed to make a left hand turn, we were hit by another car. The driver of the other car did not brake, and the car did not stop until making full force contact with our Hummer.
Luckily, all parties survived. Our car took the hit like a tank and received minimal damage. The kids, sleeping in the back seat, did not even wake up. The other car had the entire front destroyed. Emergency workers were amazed at how strong and sturdy the Hummer was.
I know that our large car protected my family. We will be keeping it.
Denny Young
Cleveland

[89vette]

Your right on target. Keep the Hummer and don't drink the liberial enviro-weenie Kool-aid. In 10 years they will be onto something else. Remember the giane hole in the Ozone layer? What ever happened to that? Wasn't that supposed to kill us all by now?

[Agriv8r]

i get one or two of those a month...if you have been in an accident with your hummer, you are a hummer owner for life......17 yr old girl rooled about 7 times, ended up on the roof and walked away....thats worth a tree or two...

[mikejr]

I know I am not willing to reduce my carbon footprint by a few hundred pounds of CO2 to drive some car that when hit by a bicycle either myself or a member of my family gets hurt or killed.

Its a matter of simple physics.....and the age old saying....size matters...especially in a accident....

[devilsfan]

What's the point of saving the environment if you're killed in a car crash before you live long enough to enjoy it?

Stacy

[Agriv8r]

[brad_p]

well you know dinosaurs use to drive hummers around and look what happened to them. The whole im gonna save the world by driving a hybird is stupid. The earth changes on its own, not because of car emissions.

[DrG]

Originally Posted by devilsfan

What's the point of saving the environment if you're killed in a car crash before you live long enough to enjoy it?

From reading their line of bull, it seems these fools think that it's ok if you die in a crash as long as you protected the environment for everybody else. Of course this is coming from the same clown that said Hummers cause famines. Go figure. Talk about idiots in the press, did everyone see this article? http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/articl...d=rss.mmorford

This guy has NO FACTS at all to back up his headline. Makes me wonder if H2 sales are down or not. Wouldn't be surprising with the intro of the H3.

[Yetti]

since I do crash testing for a living many people ask if thats why I drive my H2. I just tell them I don't fit well enough in the stuff we make. so I drive what I like.

[lvs]

There is a great article in the September 2007 OUTSIDE magazine on page 32 titled "Shut up about my Truck". It's a great come back by a guy who lists all kinds of reasons why his truck is better than any "eco-friendly gas sipper".

[mikejr]

Originally Posted by Yetti

since I do crash testing for a living many people ask if thats why I drive my H2. I just tell them I don't fit well enough in the stuff we make. so I drive what I like.

I've used that line before too since I am 6'4" tall.

My wife and I were talking about this over the weekend. And we've just come to the decision that if it says HUMMER on it, its bad for the environment. If HUMMER made the Prius it would be bad for the environment. There are so many vehicles on the road and boats on the water that are much more worse for the environment then the HUMMER...but they dont get beat up like the HUMMER does...

[DrG]

Exactly, I'm 6'5" and I don't enjoy the H3. I put off buying my H2 until the H3's came out so I could compare, but one test drive convinced me.

There's a lot more big UPS vans than Hummers running around where I live and no one complains about their mileage. I've talked to several guys who drive 3/4 or 1 ton dually's who would love to get my mpg but of course those are "work trucks", even if the guy is a CPA, but Hummer remains the target for all the lower mpg vehicles. Hey, it's nice to be thought of first!!

[mikejr]

Originally Posted by DrG

Exactly, I'm 6'5" and I don't enjoy the H3. I put off buying my H2 until the H3's came out so I could compare, but one test drive convinced me.

There's a lot more big UPS vans than Hummers running around where I live and no one complains about their mileage. I've talked to several guys who drive 3/4 or 1 ton dually's who would love to get my mpg but of course those are "work trucks", even if the guy is a CPA, but Hummer remains the target for all the lower mpg vehicles. Hey, it's nice to be thought of first!!

I've never ridden in an H3, but have sat in them. Now I didnt have my wife's trailblazer there to compare, but I felt the trailblazer was a bit roomier inside.

You know I never thought of the UPS trucks running around and the thing is....they are running all day long. I drive my H2 to my office...1 mile....then drive home at the end of the day....1 mile....so hows that hurting the environment? I've got buddies saying they wished they got the mileage i get in the H2....and one of them drives a Durango!

I guess someone has to wear the bullseye on their backs...might as well be us HUMMER owners.

[2of4]

Originally Posted by brad_p

well you know dinosaurs use to drive hummers around and look what happened to them. The whole im gonna save the world by driving a hybird is stupid. The earth changes on its own, not because of car emissions.

I wounder if it was all the methane gas from the dinosures that destroyed them. Like the article about all the flatulent cows in Wyoming being alot of the cause of gobal warming.

[RuggedH2]

Originally Posted by DrG

There's a lot more big UPS vans than Hummers running around where I live and no one complains about their mileage. I've talked to several guys who drive 3/4 or 1 ton dually's who would love to get my mpg but of course those are "work trucks", even if the guy is a CPA, but Hummer remains the target for all the lower mpg vehicles. Hey, it's nice to be thought of first!!

They want us to believe it is environmental concern, hell - they want to believe it's environmental concern. It's not, simple class envy, (hate the rich guy) plain and simple. Most couldn't tell the difference between an H2 and an H3.

Typical lib crap.

[jmsspratlin]

People are always going to gripe about something. As someone said earlier, when this whole "Hummers are bad" thing blows over, it'll be something else. I could care less what people say about the Hummer. I love mine and when it breaks, its just a good excuse to buy another....or maybe a H1

[Alan06SUT]

Its funny to me that no one seemed to care about the environment until gas prices doubled. Its not that they can't afford to drive gas guzzlers, it becuase they want to save the environment, right? I've called out some lefty loons on this and they tried to say that they didnt know it was bad for the environment back then. Nice.

[3Hummer]

We are a stereoptyped group of car drivers hahah. Its tru once some women at a gas station came up and said stop driving your car its ruining the environment, i replied "what do you drive mam?" she replied "that black suburban" i just laughed i said look at my gas mileage and then go look at yours. she looked at her gas mileage stared at me blankly and got back in her car haha. another story today i wore my Hummer shirt into my environmental science class, but its all good cause i have it in good with the teacher, i was in his surf club at school, and he knows i actually need and use the car. so thers no issue with that. IM glad i got him and not the other teacher!

[mikejr]

Originally Posted by jmsspratlin

People are always going to gripe about something. As someone said earlier, when this whole "Hummers are bad" thing blows over, it'll be something else. I could care less what people say about the Hummer. I love mine and when it breaks, its just a good excuse to buy another....or maybe a H1

Ditto that!....just like my guns....they will only get my HUMMER when they pry my cold dead hands from the wheel and shifter!

[tower]

If there was a more environmentally friendly vehicle which was as safe and capable off-road as my H2 I would buy it. Come to think of it there is. I guess I better start saving my spare change for an H1.