The safety requirements have gone up because the average size of the vehicles in the US has gone up. Has nothing to do with aero, and everything to do with rollover protection. Hell, even the dreaded “giant iPad” era of interior design is due to the requirement for backup cams on all cars, due to the reduced visibility, due to the increased size of structural pillars, due to higher strength to pass rollover tests due to increased weight of the vehicle duetolargertrucksandsuvsduetotheautomakerstargetingthemostprofitablevehiclesizesduetothechickentaxonimportedtrucks.