gearchruncher
Well-Known Member
NHTSA is only allowed to "regulate" AFTER something happens. We treat cars in the USA very differently than other safety critical products.I may have missed something, but my MY has had two recalls since I've purchased it, both from NHTSA investigations. One was for seat belt warning chimes and the other about rolling stops (in FSD Beta).
For aircraft and medical, the regulator is involved during the design. They audit the product, process, and adherence to laws. If the product doesn't align with existing regulations, work has to be done to figure out how it will be proven to be safe. All of this must happen before it can be offered for sale. The regulator then continues to work with the product throughout the lifecycle.
NHTSA is not allowed to audit products before release. They don't even have to be told they exist. They wait until the public is put at sufficient risk before they can act. Then they must negotiate with the manufacturer to determine a resolution process, which at times gets very drawn out and contentious. During that time, the product remains on the market.
This is how Tesla can ship "full self driving" which supposedly follows road laws while also having specifically coded it to run stop signs. Because they can try whatever they want and see if NHTSA eventually stops it, and there is no real cost to acting poorly. Meanwhile, in Aviation and Medical, you can't start getting revenue until the regulator approves it (although Tesla hacked even that with their pre-sales of FSD).
It's very odd that the US rules came up this way, but it is what it is. But it's also helpful for people to understand this difference. Maybe you believe this is sufficient regulation for vehicles and effective at keeping the public safe, and that it's OK to wait for cars to fail in consumer's hands before fixing them. I'd be very surprised if people felt the same way about medicine and airplanes, and it might be interesting to think about why that is, and if maybe the modern world of self driving and OTA updates to a million cars overnight is making the risk more like medical than legacy automotive.