I think they are safer than most cars. There's hardly any substitute for a lot of steel, air bags and crumple zones. I believe the vehicle with the greatest mass - most of the time - wins.
And I believe the roll-over risk was primarily a six-o'clock news story. Consumer Reports confessed to screwing with some of their rollover studies.
AFAIK the still make millions of them - seem like there has to be a pretty good reason, since trendy now = Prius or hybrid.