By Nathan Seppa
Children in sport utility vehicles (SUVs) are just as likely as children in passenger cars to be injured in an accident, despite the SUVs’ greater weight, a study finds.
Scientists analyzed accidents in 16 states and the District of Columbia that involved 3,922 children in SUVs or passenger cars. The vehicles were model-year 1998 or newer. All crashes had been reported to State Farm Mutual Automobile Insurance Co. between 2000 and 2003.
Researchers also interviewed the drivers of vehicles in which a child suffered an injury requiring treatment, such as a concussion, laceration, broken limb, or internal-organ injury. For both passenger cars and SUVs, children sustained such injuries in less than 2 percent of the crashes.