Re: As I've commented previously
I would argue about the little tangible benefit. There are other factors as well but when I started driving nearly 8000 people a year were killed on the roads. Now it's under 2000. This despite the fact that car ownership has been democratised to the point that the average driver is far less intelligent than was the average 1960s driver.
I quite agree that these improvements have happened and are wonderful. I disagree that they are due to in car technology. Mostly it is chassis design, mandatory seat belt use, motorcycle helmets, crumple zones, air bags (a sensor sure, but a whole ECU??), and body shape (throws peds into the air rather than running them over).
There's a long list of in car tech that just doesn't do anything useful (safety, performance, or emissions for the green). Fly by wire steering hasn't helped those. Fuel injectors coded to the specific ECU? Heated seats? Heated mirrors? Electric mirrors? Rain sensing wipers. Auto dimming rear view mirror. DRLs. Reversing sensor. Keys that aren't, well, keys. Auto parking..... there's so much extraneous and unneccessary guff in cars these days, I'm not surprised there's so many recalls and faults.
Biting the hand that feeds IT
