This analogy is just wrong - as in completely incorrect. Car makers didn't optimize what they were told to optimize for, they optimized for the test they knew

This analogy is just wrong - as in completely incorrect. Car makers didn't optimize what they were told to optimize for, they optimized for the test they knew the regulators would perform. A correct analogy would be you telling manufacturers, "the printer must use at most X grams of ink per square centimeter", but then they go and only optimize it for the specific test printouts you will do. In truth their printer is exceeding that threshold just so they can also advertise higher printing speeds.