LAST EDITED ON 20-May-08 AT 07:34 PM (PST)
No Jack, I wasn't just claiming you were lying without citations - I was waiting to see how far you would go in lying before providing the specific citations that establish that you were full of shit.
Ironically, I got quite a bit of my information from the exact same Wikipedia citations that you did, as well as others that were linked from them. As well as from the Wikipedia entry on Ralph Nader.
The simple fact is, the stuff you have presented as "FACTS" in your posts, was NOT presented as facts by the very Wikipedia entries you cited.
Just because you cite a link, doesn't give you license to mis-state what the link actually says.
YOUR link points out that the Seat belts in the Ford Falcon were an optional safety package - NOT, as you imply, standard equipment.
And you yourself admit that the leader in bringing seat belts into cars was Volvo, not Ford nor any other American auto company. The simple fact is, Nader was publishing data on the need for seat belts in 1959, before ANY American car had seat belts as standard equipment, and only a few like the Ford Falcon even offered them as expensive options.
Wikipedia also points out that it was Nader who got the law passed in 1966 that mandated seat belts AS STANDARD EQUIPMENT.
Here's the relevant passage:
Nader's first consumer safety articles appeared in the Harvard Law Record, a student publication of Harvard Law School, but he first criticized the automobile industry in an article he wrote for The Nation in 1959 called "The Safe Car You Can't Buy."[14] In 1965, Nader wrote Unsafe at Any Speed, a study that purported to demonstrate that many American automobiles were unsafe, especially the Chevrolet Corvair manufactured by General Motors. The Corvair had been involved in numerous accidents involving spins and rollovers, and there were over 100 lawsuits pending against GM in connection to accidents involving the popular compact car. These lawsuits provided the initial material for Nader's investigations into the safety of the car[15] GM tried to discredit Nader, hiring private detectives to tap his phones and investigate his past, and hiring prostitutes to trap him in compromising situations.[16][17] GM failed to uncover any wrongdoing, and never explained resorting to smear tactics instead of defending the car in the popular press, where the company had considerable corporate influence. GM's avoidance of technical journals makes more sense, as it was well known among auto engineers that the early (1960-64) Corvair's swing axle suspension handled miserably.[18][19] Upon learning of GM's actions, Nader successfully sued the company for invasion of privacy, forced it to publicly apologize, and used much of his $284,000 net settlement to expand his consumer rights efforts. Nader's lawsuit against GM was ultimately decided by the New York Court of Appeals, whose opinion in the case expanded tort law to cover "overzealous surveillance".[20]
Nader's advocacy of automobile safety and the publicity generated by the publication of Unsafe at Any Speed, along with concern over escalating nationwide traffic fatalities, led to the unanimous passage of the 1966 National Traffic and Motor Vehicle Safety Act. The act established the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, and marked a historic shift in responsibility for automobile safety (which shifted from the consumer to the manufacturer). The legislation mandated a series of safety features for automobiles, beginning with safety belts and stronger windshields.[21][22][23]
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ralph_Nader
As for your Americian Heritage citation, - it's sheer bullshit propaganda with no factual basis for what they printed.
BTW, I WILL give you credit for ONE thing you were right about - I see that the mods DID delete the most egregious bullshit-laden post in this thread - your own post #14.
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