[hiimnate]

I think another aspect of it is the auto industry's reluctance to admit that cars are dangerous. Before seatbelts were introduced, manufacturers didn't want to include any overt safety systems, because they introduced the idea that we needed protection from the cars. There were no dangerous cars, just bad drivers. There's a great 99% invisible episode about it: https://99percentinvisible.org/episode/nut-behind-wheel/

[stefs]

> There were no dangerous cars, just bad drivers.

i remember reading about airplane accidents almost always being labeled as "human error", as it's cheaper to replace pilots than it's to replace whole airplanes.

[adamson]

Interestingly enough, as you'll learn in that episode, the push for automobile safety was inspired by innovations in airplane safety!