For years the car makers have resisted federal rollover ratings for SUV's. However, because of the recent Firestone tire debacle, it looks like this won't be the case any more. Recent legislation takes care of that, and SUV rollover rates will be made public.

Now, why have the car makers opposed this? They have always argued that SUV's are safe and in any case, are light trucks and should not have to conform to the same regulations as cars. In case you didn't know, trucks have much laxer standards than cars, especially when it comes to crashes. They don't even have the same bumper standards as cars. For example, SUV's were recently tested to see how they fared in a five mph bumper crash as compared to cars-the worst one sustained $11,000 in damage! More to come on this in a future anti-SUV column.

The car makers have also argued that big government was not needed to make SUV's safe-there are many regulations already-and the "magic" of the market place would take care of that anyway. How, you may ask? Well, people wouldn't buy SUV's that aren't as safe as others and so in order to compete, SUV's would therefore be made safer. Great in theory-if you had an idea of how safe they were to begin with.

The car makers have also propagated the myth that SUV's are safer than cars, simply because in an accident with a car, the driver of an SUV is much more likely to survive than the driver or passengers of a car. Which, in effect, says, "drive an SUV so you can become the killer instead of the victim."

One thing the car makers didn't let on is how unsafe SUV's really are, especially when it comes to rollovers. Their high rollover rates cancelled out their lower fatality rates in other crashes. In a single car crash (for example, driving along and swerving to avoid a deer), drivers of an SUV have a 50 percent chance of dying as compared to 19 percent for cars (and 33 percent for pickup trucks). And so, they did everything they could to not have these statistics become public.

The reality is that SUV's are no longer vehicles that are used "off-road." As everyone knows, they are being used just like cars and so, they should be as safe as cars. But, this isn't going to happen unless the government steps in and forces manufacturers to build safer vehicles. Forget all that hogwash about competition, less government or the "magic" of the marketplace.

I wonder how buyers are going to feel when they see that most SUV's have pretty lousy ratings? Will people modify their buying decisions knowing that the vehicle they're buying has a 40 percent greater chance of rolling over? And if you factor in a full load and few passengers, their rating gets even worse. One thing's for sure, this is the sort of news the insurance industry loves to hear-this is a great opportunity to jack-up SUV rates. "What are ya gonna do?" they'll say.

This, of course, is not the demise of SUV's. Better suspensions, a lower center of gravity, wider tracks, better traction and stability systems will all be used to make them safer. Of course, you can definitely count on the already over-priced SUV's becoming even more expensive.

[Peter C. Sessler has written over 30 automotive books. Besides books, he also writes for several Internet web sites and car magazines. He has also written (with his wife) a children's six-book series on auto racing. His latest books include "Camaro Photo Archive," "Jeep Prototypes and Concept Cars," "The Ultimate American V-8 Engine Data Guide" and "SVT Mustang Cobra Recognition Guide, 1993-2000."]