I can see a bit of both sides of the argument, and from experiences like an unbelted wreck as a passenger, and having owned a Corvair and a couple 911s.
Still have the scars from the wreck, and learned handling in SoCal's canyons in the Corvair & '73 911 without putting a mark on them.

What Nader did crate, besides an awareness of safety, was a high profile for himself, and primarily the culture of victimization.
He's the patron saint of an entire class of liability lawyers, and advanced the blaming game as a means to hide behind one's own incompetence.
Obviously one can be hurt or killed in a wreck, but the avoidance of same remains woefully under-addressed.
Witness the "jerk it back" experience posted previously. That never works, unless you want a catastrophe.
That's why I always recommend parents take their kids to a HPDE or race school to learn car control.

By the same token, though, many of the crash-mitigating and survival features are definitely a good thing, especially for innocent 2nd/3rd/etc parties.
And there's no defense for things like the Pinto fuel tank debacle or similar corporate decisions.
I'd say there's a sizable amount of evidence that mankind will put money before everything else, thereby becoming his own enemy.