all the conservatives out there may not like it (I am one, too) but you will have admit if it wasn’t for Ralph Nader the decline in deaths might not be as significant. it is indisputable that seat belts save lives.
Hi Bob- Ralph Nader got results in auto safety completely by accident (no pun intended).
In the mid-50’s Ford Motor Company did a lot of research and spent a lot of money on making their cars safer. They offered seatbelts in 1955 and consumer reaction was negative. They felt that seatbelts were a sign that the car must be dangerous if it needed seatbelts. Padded dashes were offered as a safety feature at first, and then as a fashion accessory because the public saw the padded dash in the same light as seatbelts.
Ralph made his name by attacking the Chevrolet Corvair and by writing “Unsafe at Any Speed” which was a piece of sewage because of the way data was chosen selectively and the verbage used to brand all auto manufacturers as evil people killers. There were also multiple out and out “untruths” in the book.
Air bags were offered by GM in the early 70’s as an extra cost option. Practically nobody was willing to pay extra for them. Government fleets were just about the only place you could find them. There was no governmental pressure to offer air bags.
In the early 60’s Studebaker offered disc brakes on passenger cars and a roll bar built into the roof of the Studebaker Avanti. AMC pioneered dual circuit brake systems long before they were required by law.
I could go on…… My point is that Ralph Nader is a petty extreme leftist weasel. I like the safety features in my car but i don’t credit Mr. Nader for them.
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= fewer people on the road.
http://www.bls.gov/ro3/palaus.htm
all the conservatives out there may not like it (I am one, too) but you will have admit if it wasn’t for Ralph Nader the decline in deaths might not be as significant. it is indisputable that seat belts save lives.
Hi Bob- Ralph Nader got results in auto safety completely by accident (no pun intended).
In the mid-50’s Ford Motor Company did a lot of research and spent a lot of money on making their cars safer. They offered seatbelts in 1955 and consumer reaction was negative. They felt that seatbelts were a sign that the car must be dangerous if it needed seatbelts. Padded dashes were offered as a safety feature at first, and then as a fashion accessory because the public saw the padded dash in the same light as seatbelts.
Ralph made his name by attacking the Chevrolet Corvair and by writing “Unsafe at Any Speed” which was a piece of sewage because of the way data was chosen selectively and the verbage used to brand all auto manufacturers as evil people killers. There were also multiple out and out “untruths” in the book.
Air bags were offered by GM in the early 70’s as an extra cost option. Practically nobody was willing to pay extra for them. Government fleets were just about the only place you could find them. There was no governmental pressure to offer air bags.
In the early 60’s Studebaker offered disc brakes on passenger cars and a roll bar built into the roof of the Studebaker Avanti. AMC pioneered dual circuit brake systems long before they were required by law.
I could go on…… My point is that Ralph Nader is a petty extreme leftist weasel. I like the safety features in my car but i don’t credit Mr. Nader for them.