dhackney
Expedition Leader
xped said:
Darrin doesn't have any choice. He does business in the U.S.A. He is limited by the liability / tort system that controls his marketplace.
IMO, it is irresponsible and unfair to criticize or compare what Darrin and other builders can sell in the U.S.A. market to what other competent, capable and experienced builders can sell in other markets. Those competent, capable and experienced builders have the freedom to innovate, test, certify and sell safe and reliable products that buyers will never see in the U.S.A.
By the same token, it is shameful that anyone, manufacturer or builder, is forced by career and legal bounds to make proclamations about "sound engineering practices" when their actions, as their statements make clear, are solely due to "the degree of liability" inherent in a marketplace that is shaped, not by innovation, performance or merit, but by liability, and the prospect thereof.
Consumers in other markets enjoy many innovative products, including well engineered SRW conversions that have been tested and proven in conditions that have more than proven their validity, safety and level of engineering. I submit the SRW Fuso expedition across Siberia as one of many possible examples.
It's hard to appreciate how much you miss out on in the way of product alternatives and innovation until you get outside the boundaries of the U.S.A. and experience other societies. It's the same basic scenario as a frog placed in a pot of water that is slowly brought to a boil. The process is so slow, the frog never realizes what is going on until it's too late. The people of the U.S.A. never realized what was going on until it was too late.
