Quote Originally Posted by Edward Weber View Post
I agree with you but none of those items on the list impacted the driver or ownership of the car, those were net benefits.
As I said, it forced people to pay a lot more money for their vehicles. The higher sale price also forces people to pay more sales tax, more registration fees and higher insurance premiums. That's a pretty big impact. It also ended hot-rodding for these vehicles which is an American tradition. Technically, it's illegal to put headers and a custom dual exhaust on a modern car, for example. (Although people still do such things like modifying their diesel pickups to "roll coal".)

I remember people in rural Oklahoma cutting the catalytic converters off their pickups because they believed those things would set the field on fire. I was never aware of this actually happening, but people believed it. I remember people removing the thermactor systems (air pump) from their engines because they believed it would improve performance which is simply not true.

I also remember one mandate people simply refused to accept: passive restraints. Wow, did people hate those automatic seat belts! I think they lasted for only a few model years. So, I suppose some forms of rebellion do work. Nothing motivates an automotive manufacturer like thousands of vehicles sitting on dealer lots because nobody wants them.