Safety, innovation and choice

First I'll refer to an old post of mine. It lists all major innovations in car safety in the history and which company invented those features.

http://web.wenxuecity.com/BBSView.php?SubID=auto&MsgID=116210

The companies on the list are 2/3 European and 1/3 American. No Japanese company invented any new safety features first.

So, while vehicle crash results and accident fatality rate surveys are open to interpretation and debate, think about this: If it weren't for the Europeans and Americans, we might not even have the technologies today that make vehicles so much safer than before.

In a way, buying a product is a vote on company culture. With your money, do you want to reward efficiency in management but mediocrity in innovation, or do you want to reward innovation and give the innovators a chance to sort out their management?