Law of unintended consequences

[billvon 3,132]

NHTSA recently issued a rule that said that any vehicle that had a passenger airbag shutoff switch also had to have a LATCH system in the front seat (a new high-tech means of securing a child's carseat in the front seat.)

Well, one of Toyota's trucks has a shutoff switch but no LATCH; the seat design precludes it. So they petitioned the NHTSA to allow them to sell the truck with this system, because a child seat with the standard seatbelt restraint and an airbag disable switch is safer than a child seat with a standard seatbelt restraing and no airbag disable switch.

Naturally, the NHTSA turned them down. So Toyota is now recalling Tundras . . . to remove the switch, thus bringing them into compliance with the new law (and making them less safe in the process.)

It's not all that big a deal, since the Tundras do have back seats where child seats can be installed (and they're safer anyway back there.) But another example of a poorly thought out law that does more harm than good.