It makes them feel like they own the road. When I was younger, I was forced to take a class for aggressive motorists.

The class took a survey and one of the questions was, "When you're driving, do you feel like you have ABSOLUTE POWER?" Granted the students were aggressive drivers, but upwards of 90% answered yes. SUVs cater to this debased mindset.

On a positive note, the SUVs days may be numbered. If gas prices keep going up, it's going to become prohibitively expensive to operate them. I work with a woman who's driving a suburban, 11 mpg, and it's now costing her about 400 a month in gas. SUVs gas milage isn't getting any better either. What happens when it starts costing twice that?