"One thing we know is improving the safety of SUVs is electronic stability control," he says.
"We are talking about some rather simple and basic things such as seat belts, such as front-impact regulations, such as electric stability control," Krug said.
And making matters worse, "They're the laggards in electronic-stability control," he says.
Then we extracted any model that did not receive perfect scores of "good" in all front-, side-, rear-crash and rollover tests, or any that lacked electronic stability control, which IIHS says significantly reduces crash risk.
"I think it is more a calibration issue of the electronic stability control," Mr. Champion said.
"The market is looking for some stability that they can grab onto, that this is not getting out of control," said William J. Schultz, chief investment officer, McQueen, Ball & Associates.
Mr. Montezemolo says stability control is a technological crutch.
"There seems to be a wide range of effectiveness over all of the stability-control systems," said Rae Tyson, a spokesman for the federal agency.
"We don't have any specific research comparing SUVs with and without electronic stability control in winter-road conditions," says Rader. "But we would anticipate that it would help".
Toyota said its stability control would not work in four-wheel drive because the company chose a particularly rugged design that does not incorporate a center differential.
