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Rollover crashes are one of the most significant safety problems for all classes of light vehicles especially light trucks, pickups, sport utility vehicles, and vans.

On average, 7,797 annual rollover involved fatalities were reported by the Fatal Accident Reporting System, FARS, between 1988 and 1994. There were also between 43,000 and 58,000 annual rollover involved incapacitating injuries between 1988 and 1994, as reported by NASS GES. Approximately 16 percent of serious injuries to passenger car occupants compared to 42 percent of serious injuries to light truck & SUV occupants occurred in vehicles that rolled over. Light truck, SUV's, including vans, experienced the highest rollover involvement rate, 25.9 percent, compared to 15.3 percent for passenger cars.

Most rollover crashes occur when a vehicle runs off the road and is tripped by a ditch, curb, soft soil, or other object causing it to rollover. A smaller number of rollover occur on the pavement and may be caused by the vehicle's lack of stability and/or a tire tread detread event. The Rollover resistance rating of a vehicle is an estimate of your risk of rolling over if you have a single vehicle crash. It does not predict the likelihood of that crash. The rollover resistance rating essentially measures vehicle characteristics of center of gravity and track width to determine how "top-heavy" a vehicle is. The more "top-heavy" the vehicle, the more likely it is to roll over.