msmccabe-
I agree with you that manufacturers shouldn’t be sued by everyone under the sun (see my previous posts about personal responsibility) because at best, it stifles product development, at worst, it removes perfectly good products from the market that were misused by morons (e.g. I don’t like the aspect of removing functionality/effectiveness because an item has been engineered so the village idiot can get away with misuse without hurting himself. /w3tcompact/icons/mad.gif) That though is where the similarities in our beliefs end.
Although you may claim you are "idealistic" in that area and "one life" is "worth whatever cost," you are no different than everybody else in that you too make choices every day and subject yourself, and your family, to unnecessary serious injury or death by the choices you make.
As Gary pointed out, some cars are "known" for being "safer" than others - yet, I'll take it one step further - just by driving you are subjecting yourself (and your passengers) to an activity that killed ~36,000 people in the U.S. in 2001. You could ride a bike, or even walk, but if you do it on any street, you're at risk too (almost 6,000 people were killed doing that in '01).
What about your home? Is it made of 3 foot thick concrete? Does it have an automated sprinkler system? Backup generator and H20 source? (To run the sprinkler system.) Video surveillance? How about razor-wire surrounding it to keep “bad guys” at bay? All of these things can be done, and would overall improve the safety of you and your family - but I’ll go out on a limb here and bet you haven’t implemented many (if any) of the above “safety measures.”
I’m not saying you should implement any of the above by any means, but all the items I described are currently available today and could be implemented. But you choose not to. Maybe it’s because you choose to spend your money elsewhere or you’ve decided that implementing such “safety” precautions would reduce the quality of your life and those close to you. Or maybe it’s because you think the risk is infinitesimally low. Hey, whatever your reason - that’s fine - as Gary points out, that’s your choice, but don’t fool yourself - you do put a value (whether it be dollars or something else) on your own head along with the heads of your family with every choice you make.
I’m not saying you shouldn’t take any precautions when it comes to living your life and that yes, people do make poor choices with regards to their personal safety. What I am saying is that even with your proclamation that “a single life is worth any cost”, you are just like everybody else and you make choices every day that do not agree with your stated position. You make a “judgement call” as to what you believe is “reasonable” and what you believe isn’t. That’s fine - and the way it is supposed to be. However, the minute you try to shrink my gas tank down to .5 gallon to “save me from myself,” well, that’s when your advocacy for “safety” goes to far. Sorry, I don’t want your protection - I’m big enough to make my own choices. You want to remove your gas tank and put a .5 gallon one it its place - go for it, but stay away from mine! (BTW, yes, I know this was an example introduced by dekker in the other thread.)
While everybody would like to live in a world without accidents and tragedy - it just don't work that way - it’s called “life.” I’m willing to accept responsibility for my actions and the risks associated with them (which include death). The last thing I want is some “do-gooder” stepping in and telling me what I should drive, where I should live, what products I should use, and overall tell me how to live my life. Sorry, it just isn’t your place to do that.