Well, I am glad you enjoyed it in Japan, but I am very happy that cars which do not meet basic NCAP safety standards are not allowed to be sold in the EU.
I feel Tesla is the only trailblazer doing the right thing in terms of evolving cars further. Granted, they are astronomically priced and hence designed to appeal to the "looks"-concisous buyers who want not just a no-emission vehicle, but also a status symbol of sorts. Eventually, the advances in technology ("fuel" efficiency) and material science (safety) pioneered by Tesla's high-priced cars today, will result in consumer-grade, common-as-mud, family schlepping four wheels, to be accessible to a much larger swath of the population. Then, this discussion will be moot!
The problem here, I imagine, is price - a new Polo will cost a lot more than a Kei car.
I forgot to mention my car also had driver and passenger airbags fitted as standard - not that those would prevent death in the event the vehicle accordianed in a head-on collision, I admit. But I'd be interested in reading something which confirmed your assertion.
"However, the original Wagon R+ was still offered in Europe after December 2000, but made by Magyar Suzuki in Esztergom, Hungary. This was because it was too difficult for either the Wagon R-Solio or Solio to meet with Euro NCAP crash safety ratings. As a result, the Wagon R+ continued in Europe until late 2008, when replaced by the Splash." http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Suzuki_Wagon_R
I've never understood safety standards for consumer goods. If you want to drive around in a horrible death trap of a car... why should the government stop you?
(Admittedly I guess you don't want driving time bombs, but the majority of NCAP standards are related to occupancy safety).
Realistically, you'd have thought the insurance on them ought to be huge due to the huge decrease in safety features.
The same as you can trust that the carrots sold at a local supermarket do not contain arsenic - there are regulations against that. But according to your logic, it would be better if there were no regulations, surely a producer of arsenic-containing carrots will naturally go out of market after sufficient number of people die, because no one will buy their carrots anymore,right?
I believe that a car with a cabin that folds like origami in a crash should not be allowed to be sold in the EU(or in fact, anywhere).
Guess what happens to the passengers of this car? I imagine their consistency is somewhere between peanut butter and freshly squeezed orange juice: [1] https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CRU__x5UAo0