Here is the deal guys.
Every single item in the DOD system that has an NSN has what is called an Item Manager. These manager monitor all aspects of all the items they are responsible for managing, usually thousands of items.
Part of that management is assignment of all the relevant supply codes- DEMIL codes, class of supply, recoverability, etc.
The important part here is DEMIL. That determines what happens when an item is no longer needed. Some DEMIL codes can be sold right away- that is stuff we buy at GL every day. Some codes require certain controls but can be sold- those are the items that require an EUC. And some DEMIL codes require mutilation.
That item manager follows the procedures established by DOD regulations.
The safety issue is not about the safety of others on the road, but of the occupants. The HMMWV lacks the safety features required, so they used this as the justification in the manual. Now the real political forces behind this may have been AM General lobbying for the change, that really doesn't change what the justification they are using is.
Will you get this changed? Highly doubt it. Why? Because if the DOD gets batcrap crazy about anything, it is safety. Rolling back ANYTHING that was done with safety as a justification is almost impossible.
You are far more likely to end up with they paying attention to the rest of our truck and applying the standards than loosing any on HMMWV's, making things worse for us. Why? That is how the DOD works. Nobody wants to rock the boat and push for reducing a safety standard, even a bogus one. But let one DOD employee see that they could apply HMMWV standards to the rest of our trucks and claim they just implemented a change that increased safety and they will get a big career boost, with no career risk. That is the nature of the civilian bureaucracy in the DOD, nobody is going to go to bat to allow HMMWV sales for us, but if somebody thinks he can help his career by stopping other sales to us for "safety's sake" he will in a heartbeat.
You would be much better off lobbying that they go to old 151 standards allowing them to be stripped before mutilation.