Off-road vehicles adapted to unpaved excursions emerged in California in the 1970s; their impact on wilderness areas was soon decried nationwide. In the 1990s, however, nature and freedom have been repackaged in massive, luxurious cars far distant from the functional dune buggies or jeeps of the past. Sports utility vehicles, which are trucks, have been attacked for gas guzzling, dangerous designs in collisions and sheer bulk that strains urban roadways and the environment. Yet they connote status and security in a hot market dominated by American automakers building ever-more elaborate vehicles that will never ford a stream or climb a mountain, despite their ads. In 2000, Ford acknowledged that SUVs cause serious safety and environmental problems.