The general consensus conclusion I seem to be getting from the majority of posts as to why cars are getting heavier include:
1. safety regulations/perception of safety
2. customer demand for large cars in the US for perception of safety and luxury
so...who should the internet car forum population direct their anger/resentment towards? the car manufacturers or the car buying public?
How about the government(s) for making certain equipment mandatory instead of making laws specifying performance standards instead?
For example, I don't see why I need a driver's airbag (and the corresponding sensors, computers, chassis reinforcements to mount same and the airbag) if I can get a car with five point racing harnesses and (maybe) a roll cage. The belts will keep me from moving around enough to need the airbag in the event of a crash (which is why airbags are called *supplementary* restraint systems!) - but noooooo, the law says I have to have the crappy antiquated 3 point garbage, no roll cage, and I'm stuck with an aging explosive charge two feet away from my chest! Brilliant!
True, but keep in mind just how many pure shit large vehicles there are. For instance, I had a real estate agent tell me that this was much safer than what I was driving.
If going by pure size, perhaps, but that's a vehicle so bad at absorbing energy it doesn't matter - it's not safe, and you're losing your legs if you get in an accident. That's an extreme example, but my point is that you can't view these things in simplistic terms. Besides which, I've avoided accidents that a larger vehicle would have been hit in - narrowly missed being hit by a train in a Chevy Sprint, had it been a mid-sized sedan it wouldn't have been a narrow miss - and active safety is just as important as passive.
There are just as many if not possibly more shit
small cars out there. Also, you're using a van as an example - vans and cab over trucks are by definition less safe as there's no significant crumple zone in front of the driver. In fact, the driver IS the crumple zone.
Notice what the same company's small car did around the same time:
[video=youtube;AuQta-Ftwy8]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AuQta-Ftwy8[/video]
While not automatically amputating the legs, the Cavy was well known for severe leg injury (among other damage), and it's easy to see why.
Active safety is, of course, harder to quantify, but if you go that way, motorcycles are more actively safe than small cars - and you don't have to wait for the firemen to cut you out of the wreckage while you slowly bleed to death if something goes wrong on a motorcycle.
Edit: I will just leave this here...