Re: Air bags (again) (sorry! last time)

[John Allred <jallred@rtimeinc.com>]

At 22 25 9/24/97 -0400, Rob Winchell wrote:
>The reason the goverment mandated airbags in all passenger vehicles was so
>that ALL PEOPLE COULD AFFORD THEM. That's the only reason - so people
>weren't only safe in Lexus or BMW, but also in a Geo or Hyundai. 

Really?  Last I checked, an airbag replacement on my 90 Coupe Q would cost
on the order of $800 (dealer).  That's not exactly an affordable price --
especially given that more effective alternatives exist at a much cheaper
price.

>If you see some hidden goverment agenda, then so be it.

There's nothing hidden about it -- every national election I can recall had
major party politicians promising that The Neat New Law Of The Day would
make us all safer.  These laws end up screwing some group of people
(unintended consequences -- in the airbag case, kids and short people who
are outside the design limits of the airbag), and we all find our actions
limited by these "we need to protect you from yourself" laws.

>Rob Winchell
>91 200Q (BIG DANGEROUS AIRBAG! DAMN THAT CLINTON!)

Nope -- the passive restraint mess comes from the flunkies of the Carter,
Nixon, and Reagan (Elizabeth Dole as Secretary of Transportation)
administrations.

And with that, we've wandered way off-topic, so we should probably take
this discussion off the quattro list.