4 ms·

Aren't we all the crash test dummies if we're sharing the road with them?

• WhompingWindows 9y ago
  We are nothing like crash test dummies. Crash test dummies are intentionally slammed into barriers at 60+ mph. Testing of vehicle safety features, and safety features of many products, is most often done in mass markets. Automatic safety features are being rolled out in essentially every single auto brand. Automatic emergency braking (AEB) is set to be standard in numerous makes in a couple years. Lane control, lane reminders, blindspot detectors, these features are all being rolled out on the roads, to varying degrees of success. This is a less-safe version of the way drugs are brought to market. First, small-scale tests with cells only, then mice, then healthy people, then target patients, and finally post-market surveillance. Cars indeed have a MUCH less regulated rollout for their safety features, yet to say we are dummies in their tests is not even close to reality. While drug testing may be more stringent, we also don't have 30-40k people a year dying from "not taking a drug" accidents, which is the situation on our roads today. Ultimately, it comes down to lives saved. Every time you delay a safety feature, you have to ask the question: is this delay going to lead to loss of life or saving a life? That's the moral quandary the automakers are in, and it seems they go with "release it" much more often than not. That will lead to some EXTREMELY well publicized accidents, and yet we will NOT hear of the countless cases where everything went nominally, and who's to say precisely how many accidents were prevented?
  • paul7986 9y ago
    So are you rushing out to be a Musk guinea pig or already are?