Deliberate or not, the NHTSA and automakers have found a symbiotic relationship where mandatory safety requirements become integral to a planned obsolescence sa

Deliberate or not, the NHTSA and automakers have found a symbiotic relationship where mandatory safety requirements become integral to a planned obsolescence sales cycle. Cars are more reliable and longer lasting than ever, but safety features mean many people feel compelled to buy a new car much sooner than they might have 30 or 40 years ago. Automakers negotiate with the NHTSA to set mandatory safety feature timelines so that features can work their way from luxury models down over the course of several years. By the time a features becomes mandatory, it's already been milked as a sales differentiator, and trickled down into most if not all car models. I don't know if such a state of affairs is possible with the aircraft or airline industries. Those industries are too rational, whereas the expense of safety features in the consumer automobile market is in part quietly covered by arguably irrational consumer spending habits.