ark@rabbit.UUCP (07/14/83)
Four years ago I owned a car with old-fashioned (fixed) seat-belts. They were wonderful, because they had no moving parts that had to work in milliseconds, and I could see that they were OK by tugging on them. I would adjust the belt to be so snug that I couldn't lean forward at all, and forget about it. My next car had inertia-reel seat belts. These make me a good deal more nervous, because it is possible that the reel will fail to lock in a crash. At least I can check the mechanism by tugging hard on the belt to see if it locks. Now there is the distinct possibility that I am going to have to rely on airbags for protection. An airbag is a mechanical device that is expected to go for five, ten, or even fifteen years without ever being used, and is then expected to work perfectly, the first time, in the space of milliseconds. Sorry, folks, but I don't believe it. Either there's a significant probability that it's not going to work when I need it, or there's a significant probability that it's going to work when I don't want it. Please don't argue that they've been extensively tested: fifteen-year- old airbags CANNOT have been extensively tested because they haven't been around that long. Please don't argue that airbags are safer than seat belts. They aren't, as long as the seat belts are used, and I always use them. In any event, I understand that cars with airbags have seat belts too, to prevent the occupants from sliding under the bags. Please don't argue that in order to protect people who don't want to wear seat belts from their own stupidity, it is somehow necessary to force me to pay for an airbag I don't want or trust. Freedom means just that, and it includes the freedom to do stupid things. If you don't want to wear seat belts, that is YOUR choice and YOUR right.