There must be some emission and/or safety regulations in USA that make domestic cars look so bad,..... right?

We're bad drivers here. we need survivability in our vehicles. A Smartcar vs. a Ford Excursion or Suburban isn't a pretty thought.

So you have to make the smartcar invincible somehow, which adds about 2 tons of weight.

Now you've got to beef up the engine which kills the mpg.

And you need more cupholders & dvd players so we can focus less on the drive and more on our personal lives.

And get in more wrecks, so we need more safety devices to make up for our poor driving skills.

So we need MORE invincibility which adds more weight


I see a viscious cycle here.