Interesting topic & timing as I was thinking on this earlier. NHSTI, DOT and any other gubmint bureaucrazy filled with bureaucrats are extremely narrow minded, believing they can legislate 0 car deaths due to accidents /year. What they don't consider is the cost, system complexity, maintaince & repair and other broader considerations, complications and unintended consequences.
They've already filled the interior with air bags. I'm looking for them to mandate exterior airbags as well. If it worked for a Mars landing, then why not?
Further, the new cars I've driven, with their higher doors and wide C/D pillars are like looking out of a tank! So their fix is to impliment rear cameras? WTH? Idiots...
As if the price of new cars isn't scary enough, buying a 'good' used one is more & more of a long bet as the used-car market becomes filled with techno-trash: Dumped because they're too expensive to fix.
Here, you can't get a car inspected with a CEL on. In the future, are these same idiots going to mandate you can't get one if the rear camera doesn't work? If the HUD is out? If the vehicle communication module won't communicate?
This is rife with "We know better than the" and "thou shalt do as we say". They're clueless and frankly could care less about facts that conflict with their 'grand vision of the annointed'. Progress must continue regardless of facts, consequences, or costs. They won't tolerate intolerance on the part of consumers whom they believe are too stupid to know any better.
Not all of us are idiots though, nor like this mandating from Ivory-towers-on-high. I keep my cars for a long time, as my tag shows. I wonder if the sled could go another 25yrs? I wonder if I'd be forced to give it up, or the gubmint would 'buy it back' because it's too old, doesn't meet their current mpg requirement, etc?
Finally, I wonder if this dovetails with an increasing push by these appratchniks to solve traffic problems by forcing people into mass transportation? By making cars too expensive, gas too expensive, maintainence & repairs too expensive, etc. As a part of their 'war on traffic', 'war on roads', 'war on cars' propaganda?
With cars now able to drive themselves, how long do you think it'll be before people become superfluous? In other words, you no longer need to pay attention, be competent, nor look-up and take your fingers off your phone while driving? More degeneration....instead of 'driving while distracted' you can now have the burden of driving lifted from you so you no longer have to be distrated from checking your FB page.....
We currently have the digital divide, the technology divide, the education divide and the income divide, will there be an auto-owner divide? Perhaps it's already begun?
I've stradeled a fine line here re: politiks, however the OP did start the post with the word "Gov't" and they do control (mandate) was has to be in a car to be sold in the USA...period. [/rant]
