Safety: Are New Cars Really Different from Each Other?

We have decades of engineering work by the car companies on safety. We have massive regulation of safety testing (at least in the U.S.). Cars have ABS, traction control, stability control, torque vectoring, airbags all over the place, energy absorbing bits and pieces, and even hoods that won't harm a pedestrian (as much).

With all this stuff, are there important differences between brands or models of car that a new buyer should really be concerned about?

Or is safety pretty much a commodity -- you can just assume you get what is possible?