I think a perception of additional personal safety is definitely a reason people like SUVs.
But you can be super safe while still helping protect your crash partners. You can often improve both your and your crash partner's safety with more crumple zones.
I don't think the patrons of this thing are going to be thinking about this much.
I'm not in the field; I just picked it up from the wikipedia page. They call it the "crash partner vehicle". Searching reveals that's what it's sometimes called in the vehicle safety industry.
But you can be super safe while still helping protect your crash partners. You can often improve both your and your crash partner's safety with more crumple zones.
I don't think the patrons of this thing are going to be thinking about this much.