I am fortunate in that I get to write a paper having
somethiung to do with product liability.  The main basis
(hopefully) is going to be that some cases involving accidents
are utilizing technologies to reconstruct the accidents that
are more advanced than the technologies that were available to
design the vehicle at the time it was built.
 
	More specifically:  There was a case of a VW Thing overturning
during an evasive manuveur.  Based on a computer simulation, the accident
could have been avoided if VW had designed the thing with a CG 1 inch
lower.  The article I read also briefly discussed the lack of roll bar, etc.
 

What I am wondering/needing is some feelings on how individual people
make decisions to compensate for the obvious design comprimises that
some types of vehicles have.  For instance, has anyone ever noticed
that a VW bus has a short nose?  How do you compensate for this when you
drive?  Or do you?  Should the driver/buyer of a vehicle be aware of
the shortcomings of the vehicle when they buy it and adjust their
behavior accordingly? (i.e. not drive their Van like it was a Porsche)

Thanks for any ideas/responses, and sorry if I bored anyone.
For anyone interested, Volkswagens get mentioned more times than
any other car make when we discuss product liability in class....

<Matt
..