One observation about cars that wasn’t mentioned in the article: modern cars don’t seem particularly well adapted to people with non-average upper body height.

One observation about cars that wasn’t mentioned in the article: modern cars don’t seem particularly well adapted to people with non-average upper body height. There are plenty of cars where even slightly tall people don’t comfortably fit in the back seat (cough, Prius), but I can’t think of many recent cars at all where short people (e.g. kids) are well accommodated by the seatbelt. Putting a three year old in a modern car without some form of car seat or belt position device seems rather absurd, especially on a longer drive. (Ignore their risk of death — they are likely to have the seatbelt right over their nose, which is uncomfortable to say the least.) In contrast, I distinctly remember the cars I rode in a a kid having adjustable shoulder belt positions, especially in the front seat. So maybe regulators should nudge cars makers toward making cars that small people actually fit in without adding extra gadgets? It’s not rocket science, and there are multiple designs that work.