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'Safety Today Is a Luxury,' Giorgetto Giugiaro Says After His Crash

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Re: 'Safety Today Is a Luxury,' Giorgetto Giugiaro Says After His Crash

#31

Post by throwawaylaptop »

SilverElfin wrote: post #13

I don’t know about this. Lots of luxury safety features are standard in budget cars today. Even if not standard, the dealers mostly stock vehicles with safety packages. Hyundais I see come with lane keeping and radar cruise and surround cameras and blind spot monitors and automatic braking and other stuff. These have made driving MUCH safer. For drivers and others.

The point is, those features were available to people buying S classes 15 years ago. So not only were rich people safer for those 15 years, there's still a huge subset of people that even today drive old cheaper cars instead of buying the Hyundai that has it today. There's probably a 30 year safety difference between rich and poor.

Re: 'Safety Today Is a Luxury,' Giorgetto Giugiaro Says After His Crash

#32

Post by byw »

byw wrote: post #22
jetrink wrote: post #4

I understand the point he's making: New cars are much safer than old cars, and the average person is driving a car that is 12 years old, while new cars are bought primarily by the wealthy. However, that seems like a natural consequence of two things that are very good for everyone. First, cars are lasting much longer than they used to, which lowers the lifetime cost of ownership. Second, cars have gotten much safer i…

I think it's a shame that we can't add new safety features into older cars. I feel like there's very little engineering reasons why we can't, and it's mostly regulatory hurdles, that removes any economic incentives to do so. I've recently read an article about what constitutes the right balance of regulations when it comes to aviation safety, and that while regulations have made modern planes extremely safe, overly s…

On the flip side, I bought an used 08 Sprinter van over the previous, more reliable generation, mainly for the side airbags. It turned out the one I bought didn't have them.

It was a $120 option, and most buyers opted out. A few years later they were made mandatory.

Re: 'Safety Today Is a Luxury,' Giorgetto Giugiaro Says After His Crash

#34

Post by [deleted] »

caycep wrote: post #30
CamperBob2 wrote: post #9

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Pedestrians walking around staring at their phones have made the streets less safe for pedestrians, as have drivers staring at their phones. IMO that phenomenon completely confounds any attempt at assessing real-world vehicle-pedestrian safety against older statistics.

Such a deference of responsibility. The world and the community should absolutely prioritize pedestrians. The driver operating a 5000 lb dangerous weapon should 100% be the responsible for the consequences.

[deleted]

Re: 'Safety Today Is a Luxury,' Giorgetto Giugiaro Says After His Crash

#35

Post by ozim »

byw wrote: post #22
jetrink wrote: post #4

I understand the point he's making: New cars are much safer than old cars, and the average person is driving a car that is 12 years old, while new cars are bought primarily by the wealthy. However, that seems like a natural consequence of two things that are very good for everyone. First, cars are lasting much longer than they used to, which lowers the lifetime cost of ownership. Second, cars have gotten much safer i…

I think it's a shame that we can't add new safety features into older cars. I feel like there's very little engineering reasons why we can't, and it's mostly regulatory hurdles, that removes any economic incentives to do so. I've recently read an article about what constitutes the right balance of regulations when it comes to aviation safety, and that while regulations have made modern planes extremely safe, overly s…

There are older cars that have the same safety features as new ones but those cars are still expensive. I don’t remember any super novel safety feature that came up in last 10 to 15 years. Especially ones that could be just added to any car. Crumple zones are model specific you can’t just change those without making new car.

Besides that older cars are less safe because they are old not because they lack safety features.

That airbag 15 years old might or might not work. You have 300k kilometers driven there will be rust here and there.

Re: 'Safety Today Is a Luxury,' Giorgetto Giugiaro Says After His Crash

#36

Post by mikestew »

byw wrote: post #22
jetrink wrote: post #4

I understand the point he's making: New cars are much safer than old cars, and the average person is driving a car that is 12 years old, while new cars are bought primarily by the wealthy. However, that seems like a natural consequence of two things that are very good for everyone. First, cars are lasting much longer than they used to, which lowers the lifetime cost of ownership. Second, cars have gotten much safer i…

I think it's a shame that we can't add new safety features into older cars. I feel like there's very little engineering reasons why we can't, and it's mostly regulatory hurdles, that removes any economic incentives to do so. I've recently read an article about what constitutes the right balance of regulations when it comes to aviation safety, and that while regulations have made modern planes extremely safe, overly s…

I feel like there's very little engineering reasons why we can't...

It's not an engineering problem. One could cut new holes in the front bumper of an old car, add forward-facing radar, tack on a display and a computer to drive it all, et voila! Now you have collision avoidance! Except even in volume, you've probably spent more than the car is worth (labor will be the killer, not hardware), or enough that the person whose economics dictate an older car can't afford the upgrade.

Lane keeping? I don't even want to think about what that retrofit would involve.

Re: 'Safety Today Is a Luxury,' Giorgetto Giugiaro Says After His Crash

#37

Post by schappim »

In the past, high-end safety always worked its way down. ABS, airbags, and backup cameras all started out as luxuries and became standard. The real question is whether this new wave of sensor-driven safety will do the same, or if the economics of software and subscriptions will freeze the gap in place.

Re: 'Safety Today Is a Luxury,' Giorgetto Giugiaro Says After His Crash

#39

Post by YeGoblynQueenne »

nis0s wrote: post #19
analog31 wrote: post #5

On the other hand, newer cars have gotten more dangerous for pedestrians. Safety is indeed a luxury.

How? My car breaks automatically whenever there’s an obstacle behind it or in front of it.

And yet, observational data suggests that driving a huge car makes it harder for you to get injured an easier for everyone else. For example:

"First off, the vitriol against large vehicles is misplaced. The larger the vehicle, the safer for its occupants".

https://youtu.be/YpuX-5E7xoU?si=mNyPrDr1hUGF_AGy&t=56

"American roads are deadliest than ever for pedestrians, cyclists, and, most of all, motorcyclists".

https://youtu.be/YpuX-5E7xoU?si=BGaDhmefTKCr8cAL&t=96

Re: 'Safety Today Is a Luxury,' Giorgetto Giugiaro Says After His Crash

#40

Post by nis0s »

Evidlo wrote: post #21
nis0s wrote: post #19

Earlier quoted context omitted.

How? My car breaks automatically whenever there’s an obstacle behind it or in front of it.

> My car breaks automatically whenever there’s an obstacle behind it or in front of it. I'm imagining the wheels pop off instantly and smoke comes out of the engine if anything gets near it.

It’s called forward collision avoidance assist (a safety feature).

There’s another safety feature for reversing which stops your car in its place when there’s a car passing behind you, for example as you’re exiting a driveway.

Coupled with pre-collision throttle management, it provides exactly the experience I am describing—the car comes to a stop.

Granted, I don’t speed, so maybe that’s why it’s easier for these features to manage the car in these cases.

https://www.jdpower.com/cars/shopping-guides/what-is-forward...

Read more here https://cars.usnews.com/cars-trucks/advice/vehicles-with-the...

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