4 ms·

Thank god.

by wmeredith 11y ago

Thank god.

aaronbrethorst 11y ago
Thank the federal government.
- csours 11y ago
  And Ralph Nader.
- Semiapies 11y ago
  Thank the IIHS and other groups.
- baddox 11y ago
  Did the federal government invent any safety features, or did they just mandate them once car manufacturers invented them?
  - aaronbrethorst 11y ago
    That's some serious revisionist history, right there: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Unsafe_at_Any_Speed#Industry_response https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Unsafe_at_Any_Speed#Industry_r...
    - baddox 11y ago
      It was a question. I actually don't know.
    - baddox 11y ago
      The section you linked to doesn't seem to say anything about who invented various automobile safety mechanisms.
  - rcthompson 11y ago
    The answer to that entire question is no.
  - Grishnakh 11y ago
    Not sure, but Volvo likes to talk a lot about how they invented a lot of safety improvements and implemented things first. I believe they invented the 3-point harness, as well as the whiplash protection system. Usually, it seems like things get invented by someone else first and sold to safety-minded consumers and then mandated by the government when they realize what a great idea it is. The rearview camera is a good example of this: lots of cars have them to improve visibility, and there's lots of data showing how many kids and pets get backed over every year, so the US government has mandated that all new cars have them by 2018. My new car has one, and honestly, I'm not sure how I ever got along without it now. Aside from kids, it makes backing up so much easier it's ridiculous; I can easily back into very tiny spaces leaving 12 inches of space behind my rear bumper, something I could never do with my previous smaller cars. That makes it easier to do parallel parking for instance.
  - chiph 11y ago
    They didn't invent any safety features, but the basic research done by Colonel John Stapp in the field of human g-force tolerance was fundamental to the design of seat belts and restraint systems, and was later used in passenger car design. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_Stapp https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_Stapp
    - baddox 11y ago
      That's what I would have guessed: that there was at least some publicly funded research on the subject.
      - chiph 11y ago
        His research was intended to increase pilot survival for when they had to eject from a damaged plane. This was at the dawn of the jet age, and previously a pilot would just open the canopy and jump out. At jet speeds that wasn't possible, so ejection seats were built. The problem was: How fast should the seat accelerate to get him out of the plane? If it killed the pilot with excessive g's, it wasn't much of a safety system... Only later was his research used to design restraints, and also create the instrumented crash test dummies that are used in automobile crash tests. There are videos on Youtube of the early crash tests that were performed - they're rather comical to today's eyes. But they were serious business that was top secret - the car companies didn't want it to get out that their cars could crash and harm their customers (despite everyone knowing someone who was in an auto accident). Compare that to the publicity of the Ad Council's PSAs from the late 80's with crash test dummies Vince and Larry, with the tagline "You Could Learn A Lot From a Dummy". Big change in attitudes.
- MCRed 11y ago
  The IIHS is a private organization motivated by "greed" and funded by the insurance industry. Yet it's not surprising to see people coming in here and jumping on the opportunity to credit government for their work. Why is that do you think? Nothing in the video brought up government, but multiple people have claimed that this is the work of government. The reason this is the case, near as I can tell, is that for the modern leftist government is a god. Statism is a religion. Even when government is the cause of the problems, people so often turn around and want more government to fix them.
  - Aloha 11y ago
    IIHS could be the best example of greed being a good thing in limited circumstances. Markets work best when you can attach a profit mechanism to a worthy goal (or just the task at hand).
  - mikeash 11y ago
    Yes, it's because modern leftists think government is a god, and couldn't possibly be because they're familiar with the history and think that government regulations have pushed up the standards for crash safety.
ljk 11y ago
Thank competition

Thank god.

aaronbrethorst 11y ago

Thank the federal government.

csours 11y ago
And Ralph Nader.
Semiapies 11y ago
Thank the IIHS and other groups.
baddox 11y ago
Did the federal government invent any safety features, or did they just mandate them once car manufacturers invented them?
- aaronbrethorst 11y ago
  That's some serious revisionist history, right there: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Unsafe_at_Any_Speed#Industry_response https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Unsafe_at_Any_Speed#Industry_r...
  - baddox 11y ago
    It was a question. I actually don't know.
  - baddox 11y ago
    The section you linked to doesn't seem to say anything about who invented various automobile safety mechanisms.
- rcthompson 11y ago
  The answer to that entire question is no.
- Grishnakh 11y ago
  Not sure, but Volvo likes to talk a lot about how they invented a lot of safety improvements and implemented things first. I believe they invented the 3-point harness, as well as the whiplash protection system. Usually, it seems like things get invented by someone else first and sold to safety-minded consumers and then mandated by the government when they realize what a great idea it is. The rearview camera is a good example of this: lots of cars have them to improve visibility, and there's lots of data showing how many kids and pets get backed over every year, so the US government has mandated that all new cars have them by 2018. My new car has one, and honestly, I'm not sure how I ever got along without it now. Aside from kids, it makes backing up so much easier it's ridiculous; I can easily back into very tiny spaces leaving 12 inches of space behind my rear bumper, something I could never do with my previous smaller cars. That makes it easier to do parallel parking for instance.
- chiph 11y ago
  They didn't invent any safety features, but the basic research done by Colonel John Stapp in the field of human g-force tolerance was fundamental to the design of seat belts and restraint systems, and was later used in passenger car design. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_Stapp https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_Stapp
  - baddox 11y ago
    That's what I would have guessed: that there was at least some publicly funded research on the subject.
    - chiph 11y ago
      His research was intended to increase pilot survival for when they had to eject from a damaged plane. This was at the dawn of the jet age, and previously a pilot would just open the canopy and jump out. At jet speeds that wasn't possible, so ejection seats were built. The problem was: How fast should the seat accelerate to get him out of the plane? If it killed the pilot with excessive g's, it wasn't much of a safety system... Only later was his research used to design restraints, and also create the instrumented crash test dummies that are used in automobile crash tests. There are videos on Youtube of the early crash tests that were performed - they're rather comical to today's eyes. But they were serious business that was top secret - the car companies didn't want it to get out that their cars could crash and harm their customers (despite everyone knowing someone who was in an auto accident). Compare that to the publicity of the Ad Council's PSAs from the late 80's with crash test dummies Vince and Larry, with the tagline "You Could Learn A Lot From a Dummy". Big change in attitudes.
MCRed 11y ago
The IIHS is a private organization motivated by "greed" and funded by the insurance industry. Yet it's not surprising to see people coming in here and jumping on the opportunity to credit government for their work. Why is that do you think? Nothing in the video brought up government, but multiple people have claimed that this is the work of government. The reason this is the case, near as I can tell, is that for the modern leftist government is a god. Statism is a religion. Even when government is the cause of the problems, people so often turn around and want more government to fix them.
- Aloha 11y ago
  IIHS could be the best example of greed being a good thing in limited circumstances. Markets work best when you can attach a profit mechanism to a worthy goal (or just the task at hand).
- mikeash 11y ago
  Yes, it's because modern leftists think government is a god, and couldn't possibly be because they're familiar with the history and think that government regulations have pushed up the standards for crash safety.

ljk 11y ago

Thank competition