A Tesla owner’s dream of taking his new Cybetruck for a spin turned into a nightmare. He landed in the emergency room with blood spurting from a wrist wound before even getting behind the wheel.
A Tesla owner’s dream of taking his new Cybetruck for a spin turned into a nightmare. He landed in the emergency room with blood spurting from a wrist wound before even getting behind the wheel.
The risk factor of traditional hood ornaments was always very suspect and more a function of hood design than not. The actual danger (which, again, is still very questionable when you are getting hit by a car at speed) was more stuff like (going by the wikipedia page) the 1949 Kaiser and the texas faux horns. Literal spikes on the front of a car. Not a pointy bit on top of the hood. And breakaway bits or springs go a long way toward negating those.
Also, it is very much worth actually looking into the kinds of car regulations the US has. We have a LOT of stupid knee jerk regulation and laws that don’t actually make sense (and, in a lot of cases, make our cars more dangerous) but passed because only one “side” had lobbyists involved.
You’re arguing against a point I never made.
We don’t have hood ornaments anymore. Regulations in the US in 1968 eliminated traditional fixed hood ornaments - along with implementing all sorts of safety and economy standards - shortly after Johnson signed the Department of Transportation into existence. And that came shortly after Nader’s overwhelmingly popular book, Unsafe At Any Speed.
Later spring-loaded and breakaway hood ornaments fell by the wayside for style and aerodynamic reasons, but they were mostly gone anyway.
That’s what actually happened. Hood ornaments were, for all practical purposes, eliminated by safety regulations. Whether that specific, or other general, safety regulation is effective or the result of lobbying one way or another is not relevant to actual historical events.
Yes, there was (very limited…) legislation. But they were already on their way out in the 60s. And there were hood ornaments on rolls royces and even mercedes well into the 2010s.
If hood ornaments were really something people valued then we would still see the spring mounted or snap off variety. Hell, car manufacturerers would LOVE to sell a disposable status symbol. But they went out because, as you yourself even mention, “aerodynamic reasons” (which is also really questionable but…). Cars, especially in the 90s/00s, stopped being boxy messes and started being smooth and “sleek” and the hood ornament aesthetic was not part of that.
This is not a win for legislation or safety. If it were then we would actually see strong legislation against steel frames and putting those bumper bars on civilian vehicles.