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Originally Posted by norbtx
I would say that the US government and Ralph Nadar had a lot to do with how safe cars are now. They mandated airbags, ABS, crash ratings, third brake lights, etc. Heck, in other countries you can still buy cars from the same manufacturers that sell cars in the US without these safety features. Might as well throw in emissions standards too, the US lead the world in implementing strict emissions standards. I doubt car manufacturers would have done those things on their own.
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I'd say the California Air Resources Board (CARB) had more to do with influencing emissions, and fuel economy standards. The Feds picked up the advocacy once President Nixon established the EPA in late 1970. Emission standards added with the 1973 OPEC embargo and 1979 oil shortage, nearly killed off the US manufacturers, who were drastically trying to redesign their product lines during the 1970's economic downturn.
If you review automotive history, seat belts, airbags, automotive ABS, fuel injection (greatly improved emissions and fuel economy) and more, were all invented by the auto industry in advance of the Feds mandating said technologies. The more recent examples are the Tire Pressure Monitoring System (TPMS) and rear backup camera.
And we can thank Ralph Nadar and his Center for Automotive safety for the pitiful non-diversity of model variation in today's automotive marketplace. No longer can Manufacturers afford to build affordable low-volume production models and meet corporate profitability targets. It is easy to ascertain the lack of diversity when a decade ago VW develops its MQB platform to produce 15 nameplate variations of the same basic car. Or worst, BMW platform-sharing the Z4 with Toyota and building FWD 1-series on a shared Mini platform. Wouldn't some of us love to have Chevrolet's 2022 model of the rear-engine Corvair selling for $32,000? What we have now is an industry full of CUV, SUV, and Crossovers, all of which are merging into one, powered by a CVT or 10-speed automatic bolted to a 2.0 L four-cylinder turbo utilizing the perfect stochiometric half-liter cylinder.
https://www.caranddriver.com/news/a1...engine-design/