I expect I’d get more passive safety improvement from buying a 5000# 2011 car/SUV than a 3500# 2021 car/SUV, but if I move my risk from once every 22K (or even 20K) years to once every 25K or 30K years, it’s not clear that’s meaningfully different.

I’d probably be much better off to take less stress at work over car payments and/or lose 5 pounds on an all-risks basis.