I'm not sure how safe a hydrogen car is...any insight?
This is because from the perspective of just the drivetrain, it is an electric vehicle, battery and all (albeit a smaller one).
As for safe, I would say just as safe if not safer than the vehicles fitted to run on LPG or natural gas due to what I would presume would be an overkill of engineering and materials used, ensuing the lines don't leak even if the vehicle was involved in a minor fencer bender.
I have worked with hydrogen on and off over a few years (mostly as gas to run a welding torch) and despite tales how it might just explode or catch fire if one looked at it the wrong way, it's actually pretty uneventful most of the time - it's just hard to see the flame ... and yes, being curious I've done things like igniting a big plastic bag filled with it to see what it does - meh.
[1] https://www.greencarreports.com/news/1145539_this-new-toyota...
Basically, physical safety is a nonissue if the purchase makes no sense anyway.
I'm increasingly convinced this is a generational thing. I typically run my car until close to empty unless I'm planning on leaving town. I've had houseguests, on the other hand, who start literally flipping out if the tank goes below a quarter full. (There is no practically conceivable case where running out of gas in town would constitute an emergency.)
You are taking about gas cars, though. Nobody, of any generation, has "range anxiety" in a gas car. People might be afraid they will hit empty, or not trust their fuel gauge, but that's not "range anxiety" that's "running out of gas is a PITA". Those things are different, one is a commonplace that has always been true and the other is new and EV-specific for good reason.
An EV is much harder to recover from an empty battery than an ICE car is from an empty tank. There is no red jerry can you can fill that will give an EV the 10-30 miles you get from a gallon of gas, and there is no guarantee that a refueling station is close by and conveniently located. And ofc if your EV is empty, it will take hours to refill. Hence range anxiety.
I have an EV, I love it and have done 7 hour road trips with it no problem, but planning the battery charge level is something you have to think about in a way that is qualitatively different than with gas cars.
Quarter tank is easily 50-100 miles depending on the car. I swear, I'd have to go out of my way to travel that far without accidentally passing a gas station.
Begs the question, what generation are you part of then?
I'm millennial I guess (born early 90s), and I also try to keep my tank somewhat topped up in case I have to go somewhere quickly were I wouldn't have time to hunt down a gas-station to refill at on the way.
I wouldn't flip out if it wasn't though, and plenty of times my tank been close to empty before taking my ass to a gas-station, just the general idea to keep the tank somewhat non-empty.
Millenial, too. The generations I observed this in are X to Boomer. What I'm getting at is the anxiety part of tank/range anxiety more than the behaviour. Like, if we're going to the supermarket (2 miles away), are on a time budget, the car has 50+ miles of gas in it, and there are multiple stations a mile away, filling up isn't a priority.
Cold weather can freeze condensation in the tank. A dirty tank can clog up the gas filter.
I didn't think of this. These undoubtedly plague older cars, and cars that were parked outside overnight, both of which someone older will have experienced more.