[ak217]

Great points. I'm not sure how baybal2 arrived at their conclusion. To add to your list, newer cars have NHTSA/IIHS-advised brake assist and obstacle detection, more and better airbags, seat belt load limiters, better use of high-grade structural steel and adhesives in critical joints, and wider tires for better traction.

Most of the safety improvements are only very mildly correlated with the weight increases. Of course the safety features add weight, but comparable cars and compact SUVs have grown by at most 10-20% in weight over the past two decades. Most of the weight increase on the road is from pickup trucks (which don't satisfy many of these safety criteria and are bought mostly by people who don't care as much about safety) or people insisting on buying bigger vehicles.