[magduf]

People like big vehicles; people like to sit up higher; small women especially like them because it makes them feel more powerful. Finally, Americans just don't care about fuel economy, or cornering ability, or having a vehicle that doesn't roll over easily.

[closeparen]

People like to sit up higher so that they can see over the other people who like to sit up higher, recursively.

People like to have a heavy vehicle so that they feel less at risk in a crash with other people who like to have heavy vehicles for the same reason, recursively.

The base cases are more mysterious.

[magduf]

Exactly; it's basically an arms race.

[gizmo385]

> small women especially like them because it makes them feel more powerful

[citation needed]