Dr. Z said:
Be thankful for those regs. They keep Wrangler unique.
As long as the Wrangler stays true to concept and form and name, the exemptions will continue, IMHO.
I am not knee-jerk with regard to safety rules. I was very, very happy when they finally started putting LATCH into cars, and that would never have happened without the "nannies." (Admittedly they chose an inferior system to the one already used in Europe.) LATCH is a huge life saver for infants, who can hardly make the "safety choices" adults are supposed to. For once, I knew that my kids were absolutely positively in a correctly attached car seat.
Someone did a study on the car seat installs by dealers and firemen and policemen and something like a third of them were wrong. Among civilians, I recall it being more than half.
It would be different if the industry's attitude was less infantile. Nobody objects to the Underwriters’ Laboratories... automakers had numerous years in which to establish a similar mechanism. Instead, we got padded dashboards and optional seat belts, sometimes we even got optional shoulder belts that were darned near impossible to use (ever try to use one of those fixed, separate shoulder belts on a daily basis? I have. The best part is after you finally get it on and adjusted and then realize you hadn't released the emergency brake yet, and had to take it back off again.)
PS> Just to keep perspective, I have stated in these forums, several times, that I believe there should be a ten year moratorium on new and increased safety standards, coupled by at least one research study on the best way to cut road deaths — driver training, maintenance, vehicle inspection, etc. Such studies don’t have to be expensive, though for patronage and internal-systems reasons, they often are.
Actually, to this day the statistic is far worse. Pegging 70-80% of carseats being incorrectly installed, depending on where you look.
Here is a random snippet from
http://www.seatcheck.org/news_fact_sheets_statistics.html
- While 96 percent of parents and caregivers believe their child safety seats are installed correctly1, research shows that seven out of 10 children are improperly restrained.
There are many more. My wife and I, got pretty hardcore on carseats. And even regulations are slow to catch up. We, for instance kept our kids rear faced until 2, as this is actually in line with recomendations due to the spinal cord not being fully fused and a number of other factors. The regulation had stated rear facing only up to 1 year. Fire stations frequently do car seat installation training in an effort to educate people. We both went through it, and I will tell you, it is startling how many people, even with Latch fail to properly install the seats, and also VERY FREQUENTLY, improperly secure their infants / children. People putting horizontal buckle over the belly instead of higher up on the chest. overly loose belts. Other things. What people don't realize is that in the right collision, babies can be ejected from a properly secured carseat, if they are not properly secured in the carseat. I have personally witnessed easily over half the babies I've seen secured in a carseat, secured incorrectly. How many people are even aware that carseats have expiration dates?
As it pertains to regulations: I am not sure if it matters - I guess that's the issue. They can't be truly enforced. Many, many parents make a choice to be pase about infant safety. It is ultimately their choice, one I disagree with, but the point is, they can regulate measures to install seats, and secure infants all they want. The people most likely to comply, would likely comply with recomendations regardless of actual regulations. It's sort of all or nothing. If it's important enough to you, you'll educate yourself, not just to be in compliance, but out of general concern for your child. They are much more delecate, much smaller. Advances in car seats is not something I deam unecessary or unimportant. It's not like the changes actually burden my life anyways.
Oh, and on an on topic note - I would say this about regulations. If I were considering a Jeep Wrangler type vehicle, I would already be considering the ramifications of it's unique assets. It is clearly a different vehicle than my 4 door 300m. I would not attempt to use it the way I do my 300m. The issue here is, regulators as a whole have no faith that people will educate themselves on the vehicle, so they remove the choice entirely. They are not wrong in that sense. Many people will be careless and stupid with regards to the impact of removable doors, and will choose not to think or educate themselves. But then the rest of us get screwed. It kinda sucks.
Maybe we ought to allow general testing of common sense and capacaty to be educated and give people special licenses. "I am not a duntz, I will educate myself and not be overtly reckless" It'd be a pass to not be held up by the same regulations.
ok / done
