Sport Utility Vehicles

Sport utility vehicles, or SUVs, are a popular vehicle type, particularly in the United States. They now constitute one-quarter of all new vehicle sales, with increases in sales expected to continue. They are often marketed to consumers as a way of returning to nature—advertisements depict families enjoying a drive in the mountains or navigating rough terrain. In reality, these vehicles are harmful to the environment, even more so than other passenger vehicles. They rarely serve the purpose depicted in advertisements, because only about 5 percent of SUVs are ever taken off road.

Many assert the U.S. government has set up a double standard in fuel efficiency regulations. The federal Corporate Average Fuel Economy (CAFE) [Page 1654]standards were set in the 1970s. New passenger cars must achieve 27.5 miles per gallon (mpg). SUVs, however, were classified as light trucks, not passenger cars, and thus must only achieve 20.7 mpg, on average. Further, because this is an average, some SUVs are far less efficient than this standard, achieving only 12 mpg. When the CAFE standards were set in the 1970s, there were few SUVs and light trucks on the road and they tended to be used for farm or commercial enterprises, not passenger travel. Because the situation has changed dramatically, many have called on the federal government to raise the standard or to reclassify SUVs. In August 2005, the George W. Bush administration announced its new CAFE standards for light trucks. The new standards require new model light trucks to achieve 22.2 mpg by 2007 and 24 mpg by 2011. The new standards, however, exempt vehicles weighing from 8,500 to 10,000 pounds, which includes the Hummer H2, the Ford Excursion, and some models of the Chevy Suburban, prompting environmentalists to say the changes will have virtually no impact.

One of the biggest concerns about SUVs is their impact on global warming. All vehicles contribute to global warming, as they emit carbon dioxide when they burn fossil fuels. Every gallon of gasoline burned by a vehicle puts 20 pounds of carbon dioxide into the air. In 2001, the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) reported that about three-quarters of the carbon dioxide emitted by humans in the last 20 years has come from the burning of fossil fuels. This is expected to create warmer temperatures, heat waves, and more intense and dangerous storms over the next century.

The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) says one of the most important ways to reduce global warming is by using more fuel-efficient vehicles. A fuel-efficient vehicle, such as a Volkswagen Beetle, will emit 54 tons of carbon dioxide over its lifetime. In contrast, an SUV that gets only 14 mpg, such as the Lincoln Navigator, will emit over 100 tons in its lifetime. The Ford Excursion, the largest SUV, gets only 3.7 mpg and will thus emit 134 tons of carbon dioxide in its lifetime. Even incremental change in miles per gallon can make a tremendous difference. Selecting a vehicle that gets 25 mpg instead of 20 mpg would prevent ten tons of carbon dioxide from being released over the lifetime of a vehicle. Despite the obvious need for manufacturers to create more fuel-efficient vehicles, the average new vehicle fuel economy fell in 2000 to the lowest level since the late 1970s. Much of this decrease in fuel efficiency can be attributed to SUVs.

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