[lumberjack]

It's a psychology thing. People feel less if they are sharing a road with somebody who is sitting way higher than them. Also big cars feel (and probably are) safer (for the occupants). So now there is a sort of race to for SUV adoption.

[hawski]

Higher cars roll over much easier, which is very dangerous, but safety is also a feeling.

[throwaway0a5e]

With modern roof strength requirements, seatbelts and airbags this is a red herring. Rollovers these days tend to result in everyone walking away.

[Acinyx]

Especially as all these "mild" hybrids have enough of a battery to move the centre of mass so far down that they are lower than older sedans.

This is why Teslas won so many safety awards at the start: they were pretty much unrollable in the tests as they existed at the time.

[simias]

I don't have an SUV but I ride a motorcycle and it's true that being able to see over other vehicles is pretty nice, I feel oddly boxed in when I'm driving a car. But of course it's just an arms race at this point, if everybody has an SUV then the same problem occurs.

That being said, driving a small "urban" car in many european cities can be challenging (and parking even more so), I can't imagine that having a big SUV would be more pleasant overall if you live in a city.