Originally Posted By: VNTS
also, increase fuel economy reduces vehcihle safety, that is something the Obama admin didnt want to mention.
In this day and age, even econoboxes come with a suite of airbags, seatbelts, ESP - but the most important advancement is high-strength steel, pioneered by Mercedes and Volvo - stronger but not as heavy as regular steel. Audi started using aluminum for unibodies in the 1990s. Newer cars might crush like soda cans in a crash but the passengers inside have a much better chance of walking away alive than getting a one-way trip to the morgue. It's when a smaller car collides with a bigger car/SUV/brodozer is when there's a problem.
I'll leave this here:
/edit - not all luxury car tech trickles down to the hoi polloi immediately - but it does eventually. A Fit/Yaris might benefit from Acura/Lexus trickledown when it comes to safety advancements but an Accent/Versa might not since Hyundai and Nissan are too focused on cost cutting.
also, increase fuel economy reduces vehcihle safety, that is something the Obama admin didnt want to mention.
In this day and age, even econoboxes come with a suite of airbags, seatbelts, ESP - but the most important advancement is high-strength steel, pioneered by Mercedes and Volvo - stronger but not as heavy as regular steel. Audi started using aluminum for unibodies in the 1990s. Newer cars might crush like soda cans in a crash but the passengers inside have a much better chance of walking away alive than getting a one-way trip to the morgue. It's when a smaller car collides with a bigger car/SUV/brodozer is when there's a problem.
I'll leave this here:
/edit - not all luxury car tech trickles down to the hoi polloi immediately - but it does eventually. A Fit/Yaris might benefit from Acura/Lexus trickledown when it comes to safety advancements but an Accent/Versa might not since Hyundai and Nissan are too focused on cost cutting.
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