[dsfyu404ed]

>but they cause more trouble than they're worth and are there largely to compensate for the beefier pylons they also require now

They're a decade late knee jerk reaction to the huge rear blind spots the Ford Expeditions and Chevy Suburbans that white collar types thought were the cool hot thing to own in 2004ish and characteristically refused to take responsibility for occasionally backing over their kids with them.

The fat pillars came a tad later with side curtain airbags.