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Ford Explorer: A Hybrid Design

Ford Explorers, since 1991, reportedly have had a higher tendency to get in rollover accidents with fatalities than do traditional cars.

That's according to a New York Times analysis of federal crash statistics, which also takes a look at the way the vehicle was designed.

The newspaper quotes Steven Ross, a member of the original Explorer design team, as saying his team came up with a way to make the design less expensive and thus, more likely to be approved for production.

The design used the underbody of the existing Ranger truck as the base, and topped that with a newly designed passenger cabin: roomier than a pickup, with extras more appropriate for use by ordinary consumers, especially families.

A cost-saving bonus for the car company was that the new vehicle, intended to help Ford stay ahead of market trends, could be built on its old Ranger assembly line, using many existing tools and parts.

"It's a lot riskier to do a complete new vehicle, particularly back then," said Ross, in a New York Times interview. "In hindsight, we probably could have afforded it, but hindsight is always 20-20."

Just months after Explorer rolled off the assembly lines for the first time, in 1990, it became the nation's top-selling sport utility vehicle.

The Times analysis says that since 1991, occupants of Explorers have been 2.3 times as likely to die in rollover accidents, compared to people in traditional cars.

The paper says that probability exists whether or not the accident is related to the type of tires used on the vehicle.

The paper also says occupants of Explorers are furthermore twice as likely to die in rollovers as are occupants of Jeep Cherokees and Grand Cherokees.

The Cherokees are the only popular sport utilities that are designed like cars, that is, all in one piece, as opposed to the truck design method of a passenger cabin built on top of an underbody.

The Times says recently obtained Ford documents show engineers responded to rollover concerns by trying to adapt the design, but in the end, met with "only limited success."

CBS Station WWJ-AM's Jeff Gilbert reports Ford maintains that the Explorer is still safer than most SUVs and also says that a new model, out next year, will be even better.

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