A new study shatters the myth that bigger equals safer when it comes to vehicular accidents.

The study, published in the journal Pediatrics on behalf of the U.S.-based Partners for Child Passenger Safety, finds that children who ride in sport utility vehicles are no safer than those who do not.

The research was completed by The Children's Hospital of Philadelphia and found that SUVs have a higher risk of rolling-over during a crash, which supercedes any safety benefits that come from the fact the vehicles are larger and heavier than regular cars.

"SUVs are becoming more popular as family vehicles because they can accommodate multiple child safety seats and their larger size may lead parents to believe SUVs are safer than passenger cars," said Dennis Durbin, a physician at The Children's Hospital, and co-author on the study, in a release.

"However, people who use an SUV as their family vehicle should know that SUVs do not provide superior protection for child occupants."

Durbin said proper restraints that suit a child's size and age are critically important in SUVs, because of the increased risk of rolling over during a crash.

The study looked at results from accidents involving 3,933 child occupants younger than 15, in vehicles 1998 or newer, in either SUVs or regular passenger cars.

Overall, results showed a marked increase in injuries whenever a rollover was involved, and found rollovers were twice as likely to occur in an SUV compared to a regular car.

And children involved in rollover crashes were three times more likely to be injured in the accident.

The numbers increased dramatically when children were not properly restrained in an SUV, with a risk of injury 25 times higher than children who were properly restrained.

Of those children who were injured in SUV rollovers, and not properly restrained, almost half suffered serious injuries compared to just three per cent of those who were appropriately restrained in SUVs.

And for children in passenger cars who were appropriately restrained during an accident the risk was less than two per cent.

In previous research the group has found that within each classification, larger, heavier vehicles are generally safer. For example, mid and small-size SUVs have been found to have about the same level of injury risk, while passengers in large-size SUVs are half as likely to sustain injury in the event of a crash.

The recent study is part of a partnership between State Farm Insurance Companies and The Children's Hospital of Philadelphia.