There Are No Cheap Cars (Thanks to U.S. Government)

Fifty years ago it was fairly simple for a foreign car manufacturer to sell his cars in the U.S. Any car sold in the U.S. had to meet U.S. federal government standards, but they were fairly simple (I've tried, as best as I'm able, to list these in approximately the order in which the standards went into effect):

• Sealed-beam headlights
• Safety glass

and maybe one or two more.

Then more requirements were added:

• Seat belts
• Exhaust emission standards
• Bumper crash resistance

and then:

• Air bags
• Engine computers with diagnostic readouts

and fairly recently:

• Tire pressure monitoring system

and, soon to come:

• Vehicle stability control

And I'm pretty sure there are a lot I have left out.

A lot of the required systems are electrical. Thus the following became necessary, even though not required by law:

• Larger battery
• Larger alternator
• Larger engine, to provide the power to drive the alternator, etc.

Add to all this the fact that there are a great many amenities that American drivers expect and even demand:

• Automatic transmission
• Air conditioning
• Innumerable power assists, electrical gadgets, "convenience features," etc.
  

The result is that there are no cheap cars. You take even a tiny and cheap (to begin with) car, and by the time it's been "Americanized" (actually, the term "federalized" is used), it has to sell for $20,000 in the U.S. A modern car has to have more "systems" than a house, so it's not surprising that a car costs a significant fraction of the cost of a house.

I am (as my faithful readers know) generally very liberal in my views; and I certainly don't want to start sounding conservative. Many, even most, of the above car features are very worthwhile, and they protect us and the environment. But I do have to say, I do wish that maybe some of these could be matters of the buyer's choice. I for one don't really like having to have the tire pressure monitoring system. Yes, it keeps us from driving on under-inflated tires, and that has safety implications. A great majority of drivers don't monitor their cars' tire pressure systematically. But I find any and all little amber warning lights on my dash to be a pain in the keister.

As to the bumper standard: Once upon a time, cars had these great, heavy, chrome-plated steel bumpers. They could contact another car and not be affected at all.

The new bumpers absorb shock and prevent damage to the rest of the car in low-speed collisions. However, the bumpers themselves, in minor encounters with another car, are too easily damaged. They are essentially plastic (with energy-absorbing blocks or a honeycomb structure behind them), and they dent, cave in, gouge, and scratch quite easily. Of course the "bumper covers" (as the body shop will call them) could be made of black rubber. Some cars have had that, and it's practical. But those big, black rubber bumpers are ugly and car buyers don't want them.

Still, makes me yearn for the old chromed steel bumpers.