[drbawb]

When you say fake steering do you mean power steering, or electronic assisted power steering?

Because the way I see it power steering itself is just as mechanical as hydraulic brakes; and electronic steering is a far more recent development than throttle-by-wire.

If you're willing to accept power steering it's not too hard to find vehicles w/ side curtain airbags. Lots of '01 Toyotas had side curtain airbags, and it wasn't until '02 that they started putting drive-by-wire in the Lexus lineup (much later for the rest of their lineup, I believe it was phased in over '03-'05 for Toyotas.)

I adore my '01 Camry. The 5S-FE is a bit sluggish compared to modern powertrains, but its bulletproof, insanely easy to work on, and drives quite smoothly. It'll be a cold day in hell when I have to replace that car with a glorified playstation controller.

[ck2]

Yeah I mean new cars have electronic steering, there is no real mechanical linkage to the wheels.

My steering works even with when the power assist fails, though it is much harder to turn at low speeds/standstill.