People buy large vehicles more than they otherwise would because these are the least regulated so they have less compliance costs baked into their price and the

People buy large vehicles more than they otherwise would because these are the least regulated so they have less compliance costs baked into their price and there are less compliance based trade-offs in their design so dollar for dollar you're getting more car than you do with something small (which has to meet more stringent fuel economy and emissions requirements and has a larger proportion of it's cost made up of mandatory safety equipment). When it comes to safety manufacturers are optimizing for tests. Change the tests and you'll change what they optimize for.