I know Sierra Club isn't in the business of insurance premium activism, but the latter part of the article discusses a bit about fuel economy.  Considering Sierra Club's strength in the political arena, I thought it appropriate to pass it along.

SUVS: DOING THEIR SHARE TO MAKE AMERICA A HEAVIER NATION
The New Republic, Online
http://www.tnr.com/easterbrook.mhtml

According to this study by Conning Research, an insurance-analysis consulting firm, (http://www.conning.com/irpstore/PressReleases/030915.asp) regular cars are subsidizing SUVs. Owners of regular cars as a group are paying about 15 percent too much for auto insurance, Conning concludes--a couple of hundred dollars annually for each regular car owner, depending on location and driving record--while owners of SUVs and pickup trucks pay too little by about the same margin. The problem has arisen because SUVs cause far more damage during collisions than regular cars, and hence generate higher claims. But most insurers don't charge an extra SUV premium, instead spreading the risk across all vehicle owners. Great! So SUVs not only make the roads unpleasant for regular cars owners and place them in needless danger, owners of regular cars have to pay extra so that SUV owners can be selfish.  

The Conning Research study also finds that insurance loss data show the misnamed "light" pickup trucks--fastest growing segment of the vehicle market, with most new pickups used not for construction work but standard commuting--inflict "more severe injuries and greater damage than cars." There's been some attention paid to the added dangers caused by SUVs, but almost none to the added dangers caused by people switching from regular cars to pickup trucks.  

Pickups like the Ford F150, now the number-one selling vehicle in the United States--which means almost everyone who buys one is planning to use it for standard commuting--are even heavier than large SUVs, and hence more deadly to others. Pickup trucks not only are exempt from the fuel-use standards imposed on regular cars but, in a truly shameful action that received no notice, in 2002, Congress voted to forbid the federal government from requiring pickup trucks to get better mileage.  

The growth in popularity of SUVs and pickups continues to account for multiple social problems in the United States--road rage, traffic congestion, increasing greenhouse gas emissions, political dependence on Persian Gulf dictators. Yet still no political leader has made doing something about these vehicles his or her cause.  
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