Not entirely
This is more like a shift in the balance of safety, yes people have more chance of surviving crashes because of airbags and crumple zones but are also more likely to have a crash through distraction caused by all those added features involving touch screens and like. When I was last recovered by the RAC the guy said that by far the biggest reason for vehicle recovery are electrical issues that cannot be readily repaired at the roadside, at times it can feel like an epidemic of failures.
We perceive cars as being less polluting, yes many are during there lifetime but not if you consider the whole product lifecycle because cars are becoming more like white goods and wheras 200,000 was common for a diesel that is fast becoming a thing of the past, my local garage has had cars with three cylinder engines that have totally failed at 70,000 so they may be clean in use but have consumed a lot of resources for a shorter lifespan.
