"The US CAFE standards provided an advantage to minivans (and later SUVs) over station wagons, because... minivans and SUVs were classified as trucks in the United States, and therefore subject to less stringent fuel economy and emissions regulations. Station wagons remained popular in Europe and in locations where emissions and efficiency regulations did not distinguish between cars and light trucks." Station wagon - Wikipedia
Not backward, but a loophole. If Congress had made the CAFE standard mandatory for all U.S.-sold vehicles all at the same time, that loophole could not have been exploited by Detroit.
Marketing cashed in on the loophole. Light Trucks are also held to lower safety standards even though many people buy SUVs for perceived safety benefits.
You got that right, especially since safety for the vehicles that the truck or SUV hits wasn't really considered back in the '80s. There's a member of the Ranchero.us forum who works for the IIHS, and he certainly has opened our eyes on vehicle safety testing in the last four decades.
Oh, I know it was a loophole, but I meant it was backward in the sense that it caused more people to flock toward minivans and SUVs and took people away from the wagon market. And because of that loophole, it caused overall fuel economy numbers to actually decrease over time. I don't know what the overall numbers are today, but about 10-15 years ago - due to the ever-increasing popularity of SUVs, trucks and larger vehicles in general - when averaged out, the fuel economy numbers of new vehicles being sold was the lowest it had been since 1980. Now we have a market where auto makers are beginning to give up on sedans, hatchbacks and wagons completely, and now we have massive, bloated vehicles like the new 2022 Jeep Grand Wagoneer that only gets 13 mpg city and 19 mpg highway, and weighs 6,000+ pounds. With that said, emissions of new vehicles are WAY lower than they ever have been, but still. But it was that loophole that manufacturers and consumers ran to, which has taken us backward in regards to fuel economy and overall vehicle size, which has negated the intention of CAFE standards to begin with. And sadly, that market shift has also affected consumer preferences and sales of wagons over time as well.