General Discussion
In reply to the discussion: A program Jimmy Carter ordered that has saved tens of thousands of lives. [View all]caraher
(6,276 posts)Which is quite rich and tied to political changes.
What happened under Carter was the passive restraint mandate - manufacturers were to include airbags or automatic seat belts by 1983 (that's what Brock Adams actually ordered). There followed heavy lobbying by the auto industry to give them alternatives. The Reagan administration dropped the mandate in 1981, a decision that got taken to court and ultimately reversed.
In 1984, Elizabeth Dole essentially offered a deal rescinding the mandate provided 2/3 of the population lived in states with mandatory seat belt use laws. The "click it or ticket" era thus began in the mid-1980s.
I do agree that the Carter administration deserves credit for the level of intrinsic safety we have to day in terms of in-vehicle passenger restraints. But they didn't order seatbelts in cars and there were many twists and turns along the way