Twenty SUVs Damaged in Texas Attack

[chiburb]

I love the smell of Pro-SUV vs Anti-SUV flames in the morning!

HOUSTON (Reuters) - Twenty sport utility vehicles were damaged in an attack at a Houston area car dealership, but it was not known if the incident was politically motivated or a simple act of vandalism, police said on Wednesday.



The attackers shot out windows with pellet guns, scratched body paint and slashed tires, causing about $60,000 in damage, the dealership said.


But the attackers, who struck on Tuesday, left no spray-paint messages as happened in an anti-SUV incident in Los Angeles last month and no-one has claimed responsibility, Houston police said.

http://story.news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&u=/nm/20030903/us_nm/crime_suvs_dc_1

[RobertSeattle]

1. shot out windows, scratched paint...

Wouldn't this INCREASE the retail value in Texas?

[hang a left]

15. oh that is sooooo funny

[RandomKoolzip]

2. While I am not one to advocate violence or vandalism

in THEORY (a very important distinction), I say "Bravo!" SUV's are the bane of nature and anything that can be done to put fewer of these smogmakers on the road is a-ok by me. (If yer askin', I WALK where I need to go, and have a 91 Volkswagen GTI if I REALLY need to get outta town).

But I don't think this is the right way to go about it....

[Jivenwail]

5. Perhaps you can explain the difference

between an SUV and a pick-up truck. Most SUV's are built on truck frames, so why are the SUV's getting the bad press? If one is going to rail against gas guzzling smog machines, then why aren't the behemoth trucks in the mix? Some of which have 2 gas tanks to fill up. I simply don't understand why SUV's are the villain and the pick-up is not. Here in Norfolk the Ford plant builds the Ford F150, one of the biggest trucks on the road. But you never hear a word, nary a whisper, about the gas they guzzle or the smog they contribute. It's all about SUV's. Well why do people buy pickups, anyway? Go hunting? Pull trailers? Work the land? And why do so many people just "assume" that SUV-buyers just want bigger. Could it be that many SUV buyers have a need...perhaps they pull trailers or motor homes for recreation. Or have to lug around equipment, or lots of children. My father-in-law drives one because it's the only vehicle big enough to haul the equipment he sells for his business. But that's never taken into consideration. No one has been able to adequately explain to me why the SUV is the villain. And I will not understand why the behemoth pick up is not. No difference as far as I can see. It seems to me that the auto industry could make it all better by just working to make trucks/SUV's cleaner burning, more fuel efficient. But not while Whistle Ass is in the WH.

And vandalism? Wrong is so many ways. Doesn't solve anything. Nor does putting those stickers on people's SUV's - it's all destruction of property.

JMHO. Rant over.

[mike_c]

8. SUV's exploit a loophole in clean air rules and fleet MPG rules...

...that allows weaker emissions standards and lower mileage targets for light trucks, ostensibly because trucks are "commercial" rather than "personal" vehicles (and therefore there should be many fewer of them). The original logic was weak to begin with-- there are probably as many light trucks used as personal vehicles as there are commercial pickups-- but by "defining" SUV's as light trucks rather than as cars, manufacturers need meet only the weaker commmercial fleet standards rather than the more stringent standards required of cars.

[Ediacara]

10. Actually

I'd make the assumption (based on my own observations of course) that 80%+ of light trucks (not including SUVs) are for personal use, rather than commercial. I would also venture a guess that commercially, cars are used just as often as light trucks.

[RandomKoolzip]

12. Woah! Calm down! Nobody's taking your SUV away from you...

Okay, here's why I hate SUV's:

1. A lot of people, besides relatives of yours, who will never ever do any off-roading or load-hauling, will buy SUV's because it's the trendy thing to do. Ergo, mindless consumerism at its lowest.

2. I put all gratuitously ginormous motor vehicles under the same blankey; Big-ass trucks, Suburbans, whatever. It's simply that SUV's are the most visible, most prevalent, and most useless example of these vehicles.

3. Most drivers of SUV's that I see are college girls talking on cell phones, or repubby yuppie wives talking on cell phones. In my absurdly subjective view, the twin idiocies of the cell phone and the SUV's are inextricably linked.

4. Trucks, vans, etc. existed for years, while most cars on the road were smaller, gas-savvy vehicles. After 1997, it seemed as though every car bought was a damn SUV! It's like overnight, there's all these assholes emitting poisons into the air, because it's a trend. If all of a sudden, the levels of pollution spike dramatically in 1998 (is there some chart we can consult?) it'll be obvious why that is. I mean, it's as if fuel efficiaency intentionally went down.

5. They are a symbol of the ruling class. As a proud member of the working class, they represent conspicuous consumption at its worst. Everytime I see an SUV with some 40-year old well-groomed Dr. Laura-lookalike talking on a cell phone, I think of the labor of her underlings which gave her that vehicle and think of the better ways I could spend that kind of largesse.

6. Uh, do you like pollution? I don't either.

7. The increased demand for foreign oil SUV use entails.

8. They're big and ugly, like arnold schwarzenegger.


And if you read my message above, like I said, I do not advocate violence or vandalism. Random destructive acts, or even destructive acts with the backing of ideology, are not cool in my eyes. I'm a pacifist. There are better ways to make consumers think about the choices they make and the consequences of said choices.

[bleedingheart]

3. I wonder how much of this is self inflicted in order to cash in

on insurance...

[greenwow]

4. Why attack them at the dealership?

It would do much more good to attack them after they're bought and paid for. That would discourage those criminals from buying them. The dealers are going to keep selling them as long as idiots will buy them.

[chiburb]

6. The article says that ELF..

Claimed credit for the last incidence of "terrorism" (according to some DUers)or "vandalism" (according to some DUers). Does anyone know if that is true? The last I heard the only 'claim' was ELF spraypainted on some SUVs. Did they officialy take responsibility?

[Bridget Burke]

7. This was on TV yesterday...

The lot owner was comparing it to eco-terrorism activities he'd heard about. He was really ready with the connection!

The authorities were not yet agreeing. Looks like an insurance scam to me.

[Dogmeat]

9. I don't like SUV's but,

the only way prevent SUVs is for the price of gas goes to go up. Gas is to fucking cheap in this country. And actually, some of them don't get such bad mileage. Those Honda CVRs aren't much worse than most regular sedan-type cars.

[Atlant]

13. Don't look now, but Honda CRVs aren't "real" SUVs...

Don't look now, but Honda CRVs, Toyota RAV-4s, and a few others
aren't "real" SUVs (as in, derived from equivalent "light-truck"
platforms). Those little vehicles are better known as CUVs (Cross-
Over Utility) vehicles and they're car-derived.

That's why they tend to get better mileage, have better emissions
and safety equipment, and don't roll over nearly as readily as
"real" SUVs. But the vendors don't make this distinction clear
because they're counting on the purchasing public associating
these vehicles with the "cachet" of "real" SUVs.

In a slightly different life, these vehicles would have been
small minivans instead of fake SUVs.

Atlant

[pansypoo53219]

11. there is a goddamned

Hummer dealership in the burbs of Milwaukee that i would LOVE for them to attack.

[Atlant]

14. Don't worry; once the dealership owner can't make the interest payments...

> there is a goddamned Hummer dealership in the burbs of Milwaukee that
> i would LOVE for them to attack.

Don't worry; once the dealership owner can't make the interest payments
on his lot full of unsold dinosaurs, "they" will attack it.

It'll be another sure case of "eco-teraism!"

Atlant

[Melsky]

16. Another thing about SUVs is the myth that they are safer than cars

A lot of people buy them because they think they are much less likely to die if they get into a crash. Not true - they actually have roughly the same death rates as cars. They are safer in some types of colisions, but much more likely to roll over. They are much more likely to cause death for the occupants of the other vehicle in a crash though.

[MetaTrope]

17. We really don't know what happened here

Maybe somebody was attacked by these SUVs in the middle of the night and successfully defended himself with his concealed pellet gun?