But it was never really consumers who incentivized safety R&D
This is just wrong. Pretty much every new safety feature which required R&D was introduced on luxury/high end cars on a voluntary basis, as a selling point for the business. Examples off the top of my head, are driver’s side airbags, passenger side airbags, airbags that protect the knees, anti-lock brakes, and laminated glass. Usually the governments eventually mandate inclusion on cheap cars, too.
You’re right, I used the wrong sentence entirely, I’m not really sure where it came from, though I remember I was thinking about seatbelt laws when I was writing it, and I was thinking about that ’cuz Zed brought up risk homeostasis… that’s weird, that’s the second time my brain has automatically generated a completely false rationalization out of nowhere in the past month when I was extremely tired. That is effing annoying.
Actually seat belts do qualify. Ford offered seat belts as options in 1955 and they became standard on new Saabs 3 years later. Seatbelts did not become mandatory anywhere in the world until the 1970s.
This is just wrong. Pretty much every new safety feature which required R&D was introduced on luxury/high end cars on a voluntary basis, as a selling point for the business. Examples off the top of my head, are driver’s side airbags, passenger side airbags, airbags that protect the knees, anti-lock brakes, and laminated glass. Usually the governments eventually mandate inclusion on cheap cars, too.
You’re right, I used the wrong sentence entirely, I’m not really sure where it came from, though I remember I was thinking about seatbelt laws when I was writing it, and I was thinking about that ’cuz Zed brought up risk homeostasis… that’s weird, that’s the second time my brain has automatically generated a completely false rationalization out of nowhere in the past month when I was extremely tired. That is effing annoying.
Not seat belts, though.
Actually seat belts do qualify. Ford offered seat belts as options in 1955 and they became standard on new Saabs 3 years later. Seatbelts did not become mandatory anywhere in the world until the 1970s.
On luxury cars first?