The controversy over the safety, or otherwise, of SUVs has heightened in the United States with the publication of a new book. Keith Bradsher's “SUVs: The World's Most Dangerous Vehicles and How They Got that Way” has already provoked a furious response from carmakers.

Mr Bradsher, formerly the chief of the New York Times Detroit bureau, devotes 441 pages condemning the safety record of SUVs, their environmental impact, their manufacturers, and the buyers.”

According to a report in the Seattle Times, carmakers are moving to condemn Bradsher's claims – with fellow journalists also rounding on their colleague. Auto Week columnist Steve Thompson writes of SUV detractors as making “vitriolic assaults, not only on freedom, but on fun as well. They are furious that millions of people are allowed to make their own choices about what to own and drive, let alone to enjoy.”