RE: [A/S] RE: Panic

["Steve @ S&M Cycles and Accessories" <steve@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>]

It only is a possible "feature" for those people that possibly are medically
sensitive to static discharge.  If those people account for a small number,
say less than .5%, of auto sales then carmakers justify cost versus
potential lawsuit payouts.

It took Firestone years to come forward with tire separation issues.  There
were tens of thousands of lawsuits.  There are still millions of those tires
still on the road.

It only is a "safety feature" if the insurance companies, lawyers, NHTSA, (I
forget the name of the independent crash testing lab), DOT, [and a very
small amount of public opinion], etc MANDATE it to be so.  Hundreds of
millions of people don't give a damn if they get a little tickle every once
in awhile as they get in or out of the car any of the thousands of times
that they do it each year.

Is a spike protector a "gimmick" when it is installed on the outlet that
your 4000 dollar plasma screen is connected to?  How about the line
conditioner that isolates your computer's modem from the phone line?  It
only is a gimmick if you don't need it.

Steve Jones