Design Changes Reduce SUV related deaths

In 2003, several automakers decided to lower the bumper height of their SUVs to better match normal cars.

The study, first reported in Friday editions of The New York Times, found the greatest benefit in design changes when a SUV strikes the side of a car. In such a case, the risk of a fatality dropped by 47 percent to 48 percent. For side crashes involving pickups and cars, the death rate dropped by 1 percent to 9 percent.
In front-end collisions involving SUVs and cars, researchers found car drivers wearing seat belts were 18 percent to 21 percent less likely to die with SUVs meeting the guidelines. For car drivers failing to wear a seat belt, the risk was only reduced by 2 percent to 3 percent, showing the benefit of wearing safety belts.
When a redesigned pickup struck a car in a head-on collision, the number of deaths of belted car drivers declined 9 percent to 19 percent. For unbelted car drivers hit by pickups without the changes in a head-on crash, the death rate was about the same.

I think the lesson of the story is 'wear your seatbelt'; redesigned bumpers will do little to save you if youre not buckled in.
Source: Detroit News