BIGGER is SAFER, take that you tiny
car people!
Monday March 19, 5:21 pm Eastern Time
Ford expert says bigger cars are better in U.S.
DEARBORN, Mich., March 19 (Reuters) - In an ideal world, or even in Europe, small cars are
fine. But bigger is decidedly better in the United States,
where small cars can be a safety handicap, Ford Motor Co.'s (NYSE:F - news) new safety
chief said on Monday.
``In Europe they (cars) are all like-sized, so if they crash into one another there's
probably not any safety problem,'' said Susan Cischke, recently appointed Ford's vice
president of safety
and environmental engineering.
``But here there's a huge problem when you're surrounded with vehicles of all different
size, trucks and everything that's going down the road. I would just rather have more mass
around.''
Ford's compact Focus is the world's best-selling car right now and it happens to be a
smash hit as an entry level vehicle targeted at younger U.S. consumers.
But Cischke said only experienced drivers should consider trading the metal and bulk of a
larger vehicle for the smooth handling of a small car like the Focus.
``I would just as soon have my nieces and nephews in bigger cars, just for the safety
aspect of it,'' Cischke told a press luncheon at the sprawling Henry Ford Estate, near the
Dearborn,
Mich., headquarters of the world's second largest automaker.
Cischke later stressed that the Focus was a great car and not something she was
telling young drivers to avoid like the plague.
It is a general assumption in the auto industry, however, that larger vehicles do a better
job of protecting their occupants from injuries in crashes than smaller vehicles.
For new drivers, given the potentially fatal mistakes in judgment they often make, Cischke
said, ``There's a little bit more opportunity in a bigger vehicle.''
Cischke was named in January to replace Helen Petrauskas, who played a prominent role in
defending Ford during last year's furor over faulty Firestone tires on Ford Explorer sport
utility
vehicles.
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