Sigh.
Cars today are SAFER than they were in the 50's and 60's. 70's, 80's, and 90's, too.
They also are more powerful, and consume less fuel and oil, too.
Engines and transmissions typically last longer without needing rebuilding, in MOST cases. There are exceptions, of course.
The seats are better, and are less likely to catch fire when someone throws a lit cigarette butt out the drives window, but it flies in through the open rear window, and lands on the rear seat, between sleeping children.
Seat belts are a thing.
Safety glass is a thing.
Air bags and other occupant safety and protection devices are a thing.
And when you take inflation into account, a basic car isn't much more expensive than it's direct predecessor over the decades.
The government, typically, has a vested interest in keeping its citizens alive.
Hence they will tell the car companies "Hey, maybe you should add back up cameras so that people stop running over their toddlers", or "Hey, is there any way you can make the car not roll if the driver hops out of the car to grab their mail, but they forgot to make sure the car was actually in PARK, because of that stupid shifter design you added to your car?"
It's still up to the car companies themselves to create the dashboards, and stupid electronic garbage that you ultimately don't like inside the cars you consider buying. Some car companies are way better at designing their cars, and choosing parts suppliers than others are, and the experience from car brand to car brand is pretty wide.
But I would still rather daily drive a 2025 car than a 1975 car, in today's world, by a large margin.
