This is not fear mongering, it is actually true. NHTSA reports have shown repeatedly that newer cars have fewer fatalities. Perhaps there is some other reason for this correlation, e.g. maintenance. https://crashstats.nhtsa.dot.gov/Api/Public/ViewPublication/...

Now many more cars have curtain airbags. Safety standards have improved over the years. Crumple zones have improved. Now many cars come with back up cameras, back up sensors, line keep assist, emergency breaking.

While, 2002 car may be relatively safe, I would still prefer to have the safest car on the road. Usually it will require less servicing than an old car and be more dependable too.

Those safety features have improved a lot over the years. A 2002 car will have a airbags designed for 160lb men, probably lack side-impact airbags, may or may not have stability control (and if it does, it will be primitive) and will passed only a handful of crash tests.

A 2018 car will have front and side airbags designed to work as well on 120lb woman as a 200lb man, backup cameras, very advanced stability control systems, and will have been tested against the most common causes of crash deaths since 2002.

You can go to the NHSTA website and download the raw crash test and see how many gs your head will experience or how many netwons of force will be applied to your femurs. Using this information, I can see that you would be very likely to sustain a concussion in an accident in a 2002 Camry and your chest would be compressed by 30mm, while in a 2018 Camry you're at minimal risk for any head injury and your chest would only compress by 23mm.

It's pretty interesting stuff. TL;DR: cars are safer today than 20 years ago, by a lot.