Peter VanDerWal via EV wrote:
Unfortunately it's not really the automakers fault, it's the lawyers.
I don't think we can pin the blame on anyone in particular. We've simply
created an inept and unsustainable system -- all of us!
Consider the game of Monopoly. You and your friends may all be
wonderful, caring people. But if you play the game by the rules, you all
turn into ruthless greedy villains. To win, you bankrupt everyone else!
("Sorry to take your last dollar and evict you from home, mom").
The American love affair with the car has had an enormous cost; huge
numbers of deaths and injuries, environmental damage, financing
dictators the world over, etc. As a society, we still aren't willing to
objectively consider alternatives. Like everything else, it's an
emotional political issue.
Production vehicles have to meet modern safety standards and I doubt
you could meet those standards using lightweight (read fragile) materials
not without incuring a great deal of extra costs.
Even if you went with hand-laid carbon-fiber, imagine what would happen to
it if it got hit broadside by a full size pickup.
I think you're underestimating the benefits of good design. Two vehicles
of identical weight can have drastic differences in their safety. Do you
think a car gets a 5-star crash rating just because it's heavy? Of
course not! The car is safer because one hell of a lot of effort and
testing went into making it safer!
Lee
--
A designer knows he has achieved perfection not when there is
nothing left to add, but when there is nothing left to take away.
-- Antoine de Saint Exupery
--
Lee Hart, 814 8th Ave N, Sartell MN 56377, www.sunrise-ev.com
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