Recent researches have indicated that certain vehicles tend to be safer and better for occupants than others, especially when the vehicles are involved in collisions with larger cars.

The reports indicate that a group of researchers from the University of Buffalo decided to look in how safe SUVs are and how well they hold up in the event of a collision even if the accident involves an SUV and a passenger car with great safety ratings.

According to the official reports, head-on collisions involving SUVs and passenger cars are ten times more likely to result in deadly injuries to occupants of the passenger car, even if the smaller vehicle had better crash ratings than the SUV. The researchers also found that even when two vehicles that weigh relatively the same are involved in a collision, the outcomes are still better for SUV owners. The study was based on data collected from the Fatality Analysis Reporting System’s database, which encompasses the period between 1995 and 2010. Researchers looked into the details concerning all motor vehicle accidents that happened in that time frame. Over 83,000 accidents consisted of head-on crashes. According to the official reports, the safety ratings could be misleading to a certain extent because the crash tests are based on comparing the vehicle’s crash test results with vehicles that are of similar model style, size and weight.  When smaller vehicles are involved in an accident with a larger vehicle such as an SUV, the smaller vehicle tends to be damaged. Occupants in the smaller vehicles also tend to be more seriously injured than the occupants in the larger SUVs, even if the passenger car has great safety ratings.

Safety advocates urge consumers to make sure they understand that a good safety rating doesn’t mean they will be automatically safer in the event of a collision. You can click here to read the full article to understand more about the differences between the SUVs and other vehicles and what kind of car you should own next.