Repair-It

http://www.motortrend.com/news/seven-in ... BB83A24DBB

Some thoughts:
- There is discussion of how even anti-regulation people must appreciate what we have, because look at these cars. Let's look at the following two bullets first:

- Are no airbags better than Takata airbags?

- I think it's lost on people that in India, they need to have cars available at much lower price points than here. So something has to give on the lower end. Of course, if I can afford it I'm buying something with more safety features.

So, the last one is pretty much the point. It's not like these are $40k cars that those greedy companies are trying to sell without airbags. These are cars sold for prices that would otherwise be impossible with safety features. And more importantly, the market for these cars would rather have an unsafe car than no car. Guess what else: these are probably safer than the motorcycles and scooters that may be the alternate/previous form of transportation. That is incredibly relevant in this discussion. It is a different market.

In an over-crowded land where people routinely ride on the roof of over-weighted trains and drive at night without headlights to save money on bulb replacement, I can't imagine "safety" is much of a consideration in purchasing a car.

From a first world country looking at an emerging market, I don't think the conclusion is "thank god for regulation" but "thank god I have money."

My vote: test safety and make results available. But in a market like this, I don't see why it should be required. Give the consumer information and let them decide. The part where regulation becomes a necessity is when people think the safety features could actually harm them. We've seen these arguments. They are mostly wrong. So, again, INFORM the consumer, then let them decide.

Not trolling, or joking around. I wonder what the 60's, 70's, 80's, and 90's cars would rank if tested by todays standards. I would like to think the 90's start to get decent, but I bet the 80's stuff I like would be considered terrible. Also contrary to popular belief, although absolutely awesome, the cars of the 60's and 70's are not safe because they used metal and the cars were big.