Cessna ceased production of all light aircraft in 1986, citing increasing lawsuits and legal liability for things it could not control in any practical sense. This had a huge negative impact on the GA economy and culture, because until that point, Cessna was producing more aircraft than any other company in history, and its 152 and 172 models were the most widely used trainers and safest GA aircraft ever made.

In 1994, Congress passed GARA[1], and two years later Cessna began producing new aircraft again. But having been out of the industry for a decade, Cessna lacked some combination of the means and confidence to bring back its entire fleet; so it focused on the 172 for the training market and abandoned the 152, which never saw production again.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/General_Aviation_Revitalizatio...