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Comment by freetime2 | Hacker News Reader

I recently ordered a new car from Daihatsu, and they called and asked if I still want the car or would like to cancel the order in light of this news.

I’m honestly not that concerned about the safety of the vehicle. They’ve been cheating on safety tests for a long time apparently, and in the real world I don’t think Daihatsu cars have fared much worse than other manufacturers in crashes. It’s also got a lot more safety tech than the car it is replacing, so I think it would be a step up in safety regardless.

Instead I’m more just concerned with the future of the company, whether the resale value of the car will drop, etc. I also do find the scale of this fraud pretty shocking, and don’t want to reward this behavior by purchasing from them.

So probably I will cancel and buy a Honda or Suzuki instead.

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I would also check insurance if those rates aren't going to skyrocket.

And what about governmental regulation? Knowingly driving a car that doesn't meet the safety regulation, in my opinion, should be banned.

Just like people who put a quick-release steering wheel in their car and then get rear-ended. Sure they didn't make a mistake, but because of their own choice they exacerbated the problem.

Tangentially related, but I don't understand.

From light googling, a quick-release steering wheel seems to be a steering wheel that you can simply remove by pressing a button.

So from your post, the implication seems to be that if someone has one, and their car is rear-ended, the steering wheel just comes off into their hands and they can't control their car.

Is that right?

Why would someone purchase a quick-release steering wheel? What does it help them accomplish?

> Why would someone purchase a quick-release steering wheel? What does it help them accomplish?

The “actual” answer is that quick release wheels makes getting in/out of race cars much easier. In some of them it’s nearly impossible to get your knees past the wheel if it’s not removable.

Generally though, it’s just for looks and to feel like a real racer with your momo wheel.

No quick-disconnect steering wheels don't have airbags.

And it makes me wonder, even though I'm at fault for rear-ending someone, should my insurance (or me) have to pay out MORE because the person in front of me removed mandatory safety equipment?

> in the real world I don’t think Daihatsu cars have fared much worse than other manufacturers in crashes

It's almost impossible to know that without data, given the frequency of crashes involving Daihatsu cars (at least in the US), and the visibility of crashes generally - we don't know about 99.x% of them.

Daihatsu is the market leader for kei car sales in Japan (where I live), with 560,000 cars sold in 2022. The model that I ordered is frequently the top-selling car model in the country in a given month.

They are involved in accidents all the time. If there were issues with e.g. the airbag failing to deploy properly in real-world crashes (one of the areas where they cheated), I believe that would have surfaced by now.

This is one of those casers where statistics aren't your friend.

The statistics don't matter if your child dies because your vehicle is one of those that wouldn't have passed the safety tests.

If they're fudging to pass safety tests, then there's most definitely people whose lives have been affected by it.

Not necessarily. I'm capable of cooking a meal, but I've never worked in a restaurant nor taken any food health and safety courses or anything.

If tomorrow I started selling my cooking while displaying a fake certificate about my food safety qualifications it wouldn't automatically mean that anyone who eats my cooking will be hurt, it just means I took the lazy way (which could cause hurt, if by not knowing some food safety info I fuck up somehow, but it doesn't automatically mean the food I make must be unhealthy).

But if you serve enough food to enough people, you’ll probably get bit by one of those “this rule is written with blood” fun little gotchas and kill someone.

Will you properly handle celiac or severe allergies?

But any place can get bitten by one of those gotchas. In the example, maybe they are a perfectly safe cook by instincts without formal certification. Then nothing would ever be detected, or it would be on par with those who did pass.

yep, and then it goes back to what I said originally.

the chances being statistically low don't help the person who was hospitalized due to a peanut allergy.

But there is a reason they cheated. And I guess that wasn't for the lolz or extra adrenaline of some VPs.

It depends on the variance of their production line. Indeed if the variance is low enough safety testing is a waste of time and money. Just test a handful of random cars off the line and call it good. Of course that sounds shocking, but it is true.

Unbelievable, they called just after a couple of days? Does honest business (although after the fact) still exist?

The emission cheaters are still years after being caught trying not to take their responsibilities against all end customers they caused damage.

Suzuki is not better. They knowingly sell cars with rusted seats: https://twitter.com/EmrahAslanPADRE/status/17392971833193350...

Translation? Summary? I don’t think there is a wide audience able to consume Turkish content on HN

See https://eksisozluk111-com.translate.goog/entry/160083075?_x_...

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