Safety assurance and the design process in a public-responsible safety car

On July 15, 1965, Governor Nelson Rockefeller signed a legislative bill appropriating $100,000 to study the feasibility of a New York State program to produce prototype safety The program to be studied would not only result in the prototype cars, but also in safety definitions which could eventually be applied to cars and could form the basis for minimum safety requirements. Significantly, the prototype safety car must also be suitable for mass production. In legislative debate some legislators spoke directly of their hope of triggering a new industry to produce such cars in New York or in association with other States. Thus the prototype safety car study bill has initiated for the first time, a study and over-all design analysis of automobile safety which is primarily responsible to the public. The safety car study is financed by the public, must report publicly and the program and final product will itself be questioned by public processes. In addition, the design of the prototype vehicle is specifically freed of the limitations of traditional mass production The range of usable safety design to be considered must encompass all feasible safety devices and methods. It is not limited in advance by commercial marketing practices such as the optional accessory theory, the year-model system, or any of the familiar commercial notions of what any part of the consumer public will or will not buy. The legislature has said in effect, We recognize that safety and security is a basic functional value in automobiles. Since safety is valuable and useful, a car having high levels of safety and survival is just as logical as a car that is highly styled, a sports car, a camping car, a prestige car, a compact car. Let us therefore, in our own interest, prepare to build safety cars.