Feds to require backup cams in 2018; will Toyota sell/support retrofits for C?

why do the feds insist on legislating common sense....

I wonder what a mass produced car built to 1960's standards would cost today... no air bags, no traction control, no seatbelts, no TPS ect... Keep the smog/pollution controls...

I understand that technology is always getting cheaper... and yes I understand that it will save the lives of several hundred people each year... but at a huge cost to those who safely operate their vehicles.

in 2009 13 million cars were sold. lets say a backup camera will cost 100 bucks. thats 130million dollars spent to save several hundred lives.

This legislation does nothing to address the underlying problem, which is....people not paying attention while they are in command of 2 ton killing machine.

 

That is the key thing here.....

 

Don't get me wrong its not that all the safety improvements over the years have been a bonus for saving lives, I know than an airbag saved me from someone else inability to pay attention, and its likely that mandatory backup camera's will prevent people from backing up over someone.

But from the aspect of learning how to operate a vehicle we are dumbing down the american population. essentially the car has become an entertainment center rather than it primary function of transporting cargo(humans) from point A to point B

Heck I can't even take my daughter or wife out and easily teach skid control on an icy parking lot any more...

 

In answer to the question in the title, no.

I bet Toyota sees itself as a new car manufacturer.

 

Toyota does have it as a official option (from the dealers...I was asked by the salesman if I wanted the option); however, they charge $600+ (which I don't think you'd readily buy) for something that is really just worth around $100 in material/labor total.

 

because it would appear that common sense isn't that common after all?

 

So the more we try to legislate it, common sense becomes even less common.

I don't know about you, but I don't need a label to tell me that coffee is hot, or that i might cut my fingers if I stick my hand under a running lawn mower, or that knives are sharp...

Its almost like that the more warning labels we slap on or the more we force mechanical devices to think for us, the dumber, less capable, as a society we become...

 

"... and yes I understand that it will save the lives of several hundred people each year..."

That fact alone makes it worth it. What if one of those hundreds of people was your child, spouse or best friend? Should the same argument here be used against airbags, seat-belts, safety glass, impact bumpers, crumple zones, ect...?

Some may disagree, but I think it's a good decision to require them.

 

Frodo...

the same can be said if you outlaw ciggy's, outlaw drinking, outlaw unsafe sex, heck some cities that have the strictest anti gun laws end up with the worst death rate by firearms..

not to get political... but at want point do you stop becoming a nanny state... lets just lock every one up their homes and not let them walk across the street since they could get hit by a bus and get hurt...

its the folks with common sense and a good head on their shoulder who end up paying for the bulk of the stupidty.

and my previous estimates were off. the fed estimated its going to cost nearly 2 billion each year...
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And in December 2010, transportation officials issued a proposed rule that would require all new automobiles to have backup cameras by September 2014. They estimated the cameras would save 95 to 112 lives a year.
Adding backup cameras to new vehicles would cost between $58 and $203, researchers estimated.
They multiplied that by 16.6 million new vehicles each year and calculated the price of standardizing cameras to be up to $2.7 billion.
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$2.7 billion to save 112 lives each year. Isn't there better money to spent elsewhere that woudl provide a bigger bang for the buck and save more lives rather than making an already complex apparatus, even more complex.

I'd bet at some point they would wire the camera such that if the camera stops working, you won't be able put the car in reverse which woudl result in more revenue being generated by the car makers/shops while more money flows out of our pockets for a needless addition in which all vehicles already have 3 mirrors to see behind you, and last time I checked, we all had heads that almost swivel 180* each direction.

But yes I'd be mortified if I ran over someone as a result of my personal negligence, but I have big enough shoulders to assume the responsibility and not push the blame onto the manufacturer for not warning me that backing up a car can be dangerous if you don't pay attention.

 

"But yes I'd be mortified if I ran over someone as a result of my personal negligence, but I have big enough shoulders to assume the responsibility and not push the blame onto the manufacturer for not warning me that backing up a car can be dangerous if you don't pay attention."

I am not going to get personal or political with you or anyone else about this. Fact remains, it's the law now.

 

Agreed...just add it to all the others...... I did not intend it to be personal... mea culpa...

I see this as just another thing to go wrong on a vehicle. when someone is buying a $15K car and its out of warranty after 3 years and the backup camera goes south or the screen in the infotainment center takes a nose dive, people are going to have shell out serious money to make their car "legal" again. Or they just ignore it and take a huge beating when they sell or trade the car in.

yes I know that cheap screens and camera's can be had, but if car makers have the option, they figure out a way to charge the consumer more. and just like ABS, and Airbags, traction control, seatbelts, head rests, TPS monitors, ect the consumer has no option but to dig deeper and pay more... since the vehicle is now more complex, services cost more since dealers can now charge more $$ for their "specialized techs" and your backyard do-it-yourselfers are less able to work on their own cars... An as more systems are tied together, the more likely they are to fail...

My Prius iv has a back up camera. I still haven't gotten used it...I still turn my head around, is still use my mirrors. I just don't "trust" it, I guess. one thing for sure, when its raining or snowing....you can't see see squat out of it. Which means that folks who come to rely on the technology, will be lost when they can't use it. and then they file a class action lawsuit against the car maker for installing a camera that doesn't work ALL the time when they backover their loved one.... which means as consumers, our prices go up...again...

 

Oh,it's on the side alright,you know you can't trust a dealer/salesman.They send it out,for $300,and charge you $600,just like adding heated seats,et al.

steve

 

shot myself in the foot...had a big pile of mulch dropped in the driveway today so I figured I be "smart" and back into the garage while its light out.... that way I'd not back into the pile at 0 dark 30 tomorrow... watching the camera and sort of watching the mirrors... Bang... no chipped paint, only a crease... I Wonder if I can do the same on the other side so they match.. @#%&$ Back up camera's will never fix being stupid...

Maybe its just my camera in my 2010 iv... it just seems to be biased so I see more of the drivers side. on the passenger side i can't even see the corner of the car... I guess I need to take apart the rear hatch and try to adjust it some...just pisses me off....