It's simple, but not easy, because the safe move is counter-intuitive. In an emergency, the correct tactic seems to be brake first, then steer. The typical response, though, is swerve, then brake. Steering first nearly guarantees that a high-centered SUV will turn over, says Bud Stanley, a partner at Stevens Advanced Driver Training, a school in Merrimack, N.H., for professional drivers. The brakes won't work as she expects.
Rollovers are rare but deadly.
SUVs are two to three times more likely to roll than cars are, and nearly three times as likely to kill when they do. When an SUV driver swerves to avoid hitting an obstacle, the SUV's high center of gravity acts like a long lever transferring the vehicle's weight onto the front tire farthest from the obstacle. That's the right front tire if the driver swerves right, for example. That weight transfer loads the tire so much it barely can hold up the truck, let alone steer out of trouble. Weight transfer happens in cars, too, but their lower-slung stance minimizes its effect.