Maybe the Tundra Isn’t Really Less Safe?

My friend Charlie writes to say that my recent post about the Toyota Tundra recall misses an important point.

I had mention that Toyota plans to take away the switch that disables the passenger-side airbag when an adult isn’t sitting there. This will make the truck less safe for kids, because the airbag is dangerous for them. I also mentioned that the government is partly responsible.

Charlie says that the Tundra won’t be any less safe for kids of responsible parents. Why? Because “everyone but Britney knows you don’t put your kids in the front seat,” regardless of LATCH systems and airbag switches.

(I should point out that the back seat of the Tundra does have the LATCH system, though the seats may be too small for babies, who are supposed to face backwards).

I agree with Charlie that parents should be the third party (along with the Government and Toyota) when talking about the issue. Shouldn’t they be expected to find out what’s safe for their kids, without relying on Toyota and the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration?

On the other hand, some parents don’t know, or don’t care. Shouldn’t we as a society do what we can to protect kids of ignorant (even willfully ignorant) parents? Is this an issue of personal responsibility, or of protecting the weakest class of citizen?

2 Responses to Maybe the Tundra Isn’t Really Less Safe?

  1. JB July 21, 2006 at 9:02 am #

    Well it’s like the helmet laws to a certain extent. Legislation keeps society from having to deal with the results of accidents caused by ignorance, willfulness, or stupidity. We’re not protecting the child, we’re protecting the taxpayer from paying his emergency room bill and then subsidizing his quadroplegic lifestyle for the next 60 years.

    No matter what GWB says, laws are supposed to protect society; they protect the individual as a side-effect.

    Maybe it’s too early for me to be talking about this. I’m all callous n’ shit in the morning.

  2. weeklyrob July 21, 2006 at 10:49 am #

    So maybe the answer is to make the airbags so lethal that the state won’t ever have to support anyone injured by it. I guess they’d still call an ambulance and such, but that’s probably less costly than all these LATCH systems and airbag triggers.

    You can’t legally drive without insurance anyway. Shouldn’t State Farm have to take care of my kid when I don’t buckly him in and he goes through the windshield?

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