DawgDad
New member
Manufacturers are not kicking and screaming. A manufacturer knows they need to put safe vehicles on the road, not only for the safety of their customers but to stay in business.
What the manufacturers may be kicking and screaming about is the different tests that are being done at varying times - the target keeps getting moved and it's difficult to keep up. A manufacturer can put out a new model that they spent years and a load of $$$$ developing, that passes all the tests on the market - then shortly after its release a new crash simulation is developed and it doesn't do well. Their name is drug through the media and they have to go back to the drawing bored to improve their scores. All while staying competitive price wise (which is a whole different thread all together) - it's a huge task, an enormous task, one that manufacturers don't take lightly but also one where the playing field isn't always level for them.
I disagree to an extent. Sure the safety commissions might finally test for something, but it's not like it isn't known how cars crash. At the end of the day, if the manufacturer doesn't have to make it, then they won't make it. It costs money to change/alter the car to make it a safer vehicle while still appeasing to a "cool style." The overlap test isn't something that hasn't been known to manufacturers for years. Cars rarely hit square, but usually at the angles because drivers try to avoid at the last second. They know it.
The target isn't blind, its known. They just choose not to get out in front of it and make it their mainstay because safety isn't sexy. Volvo has tried to make it...but they haven't been widely successful.