“...provide the illusion of more safety...”
Why would a larger car necessarily not provide a wider margin of safety vs a smaller vehicle? In a collision it would seem the larger car would provide more protection.
I said immediately following that of mine of which you quoted “...often are more safe...”, and the reason I said that is because of numerous occasions reading Consumer Reports on the various vehicles sold in this country. Size matters, but know what you are buying. Not all the BIG vehicles are safer than some smaller ones.
Example: A number of years ago my wife was driving to work in the morning. An eighteen wheeler with a 53 ft trailer pulled out in front of her attempting to cut across six lanes trying to avoid having to drive a mile or two to find a place to turn around, and come back on the other side of the street, which was his destination. He, and his rig ran over her SAAB 9000 SL. $5000.00 dollars damage to the car, which was repaired, and served us for many years after that. My wife was shaken, but unharmed. I picked her up at the site of the accident, and took her on to her job per her request. The SAAB was one ‘H’ of a car. My point being some vehicles are built, while some are put together.
As I said some larger vehicles provide the illusion of safety, and some often are.
I think the point is though that people don’t want the little cars our government full of lefties is regulating down in size. The majority of the citizenry of this country want the comfort, and the ability to carry whatever they want, when they want, and have the room to breathe.