The Ford Explorer, the world's top-selling SUV, suffered extensive bumper damage in low-speed crash tests, the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety said. The 2002 Explorer sustained $5,432 worth of damage in four tests conducted at a wimpy little 5 mph, earning the institute's lowest rating for bumper performance. Like the Explorer, the 2002 Jeep Liberty earned the lowest, "poor" rating after sustaining $5,667 in damage. In similar tests, nearly every SUV on the market was shown to be a gimmick-thick marketing ploy to give testosterone-impaired owners the false impression of rugged manliness when in fact they're wimpier than a Honda Civic and handle like tanks and roll incredibly easily and explode and kill people and are uglier than a Pacer and have less cargo room than your average station wagon and suck gas and pollute and damage roads and hog parking but aren't they all so cute with their little American flags on their antenna.
quoted from Mark Morford's daily SF GATE newsletter

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