I think that’s just design convergence. It’s not like Ladas and Yugos were statues of Lenin on wheels or anything. Cars look like cars because car is a very good shape for a car.
Its design convergence in response to strict safety & environmental regulations. There aren’t that many designs that will meet all of the constraints. For example, more effort to improve side overlap collisions requires beefier A-pillars.
Though it is changing a bit with the introduction of EVs which don’t need all the transmission and other components running under the floorboards.
Hot take, we might be better off if cars were less safe because people might drive more safely. Kind of like how rugby is safer than American football because they don’t wear helmets and lots of pads.
the safety improvements in cars for a long time were about protecting you from the other maniacs on the road, not from yourself. i could be convinced that lane assist and things like it cause complacency, but we should have seatbelts and crumple zones
this is true much in the same way that designing roads “safer” for cars, e.g. making them wide as fuck with no obstacles, does pretty much the opposite of that and it gets way more dangerous for everybody involved
You want everyone to drive safely? Install a pike on the steering wheel. Guarantee you no one’s risking shit anymore
I’ve said for a long time we should bring back the steering columns that impale you and replace the airbags with claymore mines. Sure crumple zones save the lives of the occupants but at what cost?
I think that’s just design convergence. It’s not like Ladas and Yugos were statues of Lenin on wheels or anything. Cars look like cars because car is a very good shape for a car.
Its design convergence in response to strict safety & environmental regulations. There aren’t that many designs that will meet all of the constraints. For example, more effort to improve side overlap collisions requires beefier A-pillars.
Though it is changing a bit with the introduction of EVs which don’t need all the transmission and other components running under the floorboards.
Hot take, we might be better off if cars were less safe because people might drive more safely. Kind of like how rugby is safer than American football because they don’t wear helmets and lots of pads.
the safety improvements in cars for a long time were about protecting you from the other maniacs on the road, not from yourself. i could be convinced that lane assist and things like it cause complacency, but we should have seatbelts and crumple zones
this is true much in the same way that designing roads “safer” for cars, e.g. making them wide as fuck with no obstacles, does pretty much the opposite of that and it gets way more dangerous for everybody involved
You want everyone to drive safely? Install a pike on the steering wheel. Guarantee you no one’s risking shit anymore
We tried that, though, and people did not drive more safely.
Same with the lack of pads and helmets, you didn’t just have CTE, you had people dying every year.
I’ve said for a long time we should bring back the steering columns that impale you and replace the airbags with claymore mines. Sure crumple zones save the lives of the occupants but at what cost?
Seems more likely that American footballers need protective gear because it is more dangerous just as American school children need kevlar backpacks