Because of their designation as "trucks" for regulatory purposes, SUVs have escaped not only the more stringent fuel-efficiency standards applied to ordinary passenger cars but also the safety provisions. Crucial is that SUVs are not subject to the same bumper-height standards that apply to ordinary cars, so in a collision, the SUV often overrides the car it hits, often with fatal consequences for those in the car. Less well known is that SUVs are actually more dangerous for their occupants than ordinary cars - the rate of fatal injuries is actually a bit higher in SUVs than in ordinary cars. This is due to the propensity of SUVs to overturn in circumstances that would leave an ordinary car upright. Worse still, for the SUV users, is that while ordinary cars must protect their occupants during rollovers, SUVs are not required to do so, and most do not. It is the rollover wrecks that make SUVs so dangerous for their occupants.
2. The real reasons that people buy SUVs are more sinister: these huge vehicles intimidate drivers in ordinary cars. perceive the SUV as a way to protect themselves. Most people who buy these things know on some level that they unnecessarily endanger others on the road, but these misanthropes care so little about the health and well-being of their fellow man that they choose to drive a vehicle that poses a large threat to other road users, in the hope that they will themselves be safer. The final irony is that they endanger themselves in the bargain. What is the future of a society in which this kind of behaviour is tolerated.