Quote:
Originally Posted by svuba
The geometry was bad with these things the high center of gravity and narrow wheelbase made then prone to flipping when other SUV's would not.
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Before they became popular and degraded down to a glorified minivan, “high center of gravity and narrow wheelbase” described every SUV. Ever heard of the Narrow Track CJ Jeeps? Know how prone they were to rollover?
Quote:
Originally Posted by svuba
In a deposition taken of a Ford engineer, James Mason, Mr. Mason reluctantly admitted (when confronted with Ford documents) that in 1989 he recommended that the Explorer be lowered and widened to increase stability. This recommendation was the result of internal testing by Ford that showed the vehicle was subject to rollover in accident avoidance maneuvers.
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I would agree with his assessment.
In fact, I believe that is exactly what Ford wound up doing to “fix” the rollover problem, lowered the center of gravity and gave it a stiffer suspension for a more car like drive.
Thus reducing its capabilities off road, where SUV’s originated.