>>>That's one thing that often worries me about DBW (drive-by-wire -- anlaogous to FBW "fly-by-wire" used on modern aircraft). It's been reliable on military and commercial aircraft -- but then they're usually inspected on a regular basis, meaning that if there are problems, they're often spotted before they become serious. When it comes to personal vehicles, it's likely a different story -- there is high probability that they don't get inspected as often as necessary (we probably know at least a few people who neglect regular maintenance such as oil changes or rotating the tires). For those cases I can see that the only "safe" option is to default DBW system to auto-shutdown when a fault is detected -- however that will result in customer perception that car is unreliable.
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>>And of course they won't do anything like that - perception = sales = $$$ (or €€€, though SFRSFRSFR also makes an interesting sound).
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>Which is one of the reasons why auto manufacturers in the USA resisted adding seatbelts as standard equipment.

Additional reason: any surviving customers are likely to start hating the brand of car where they almost died, and buy their next car from a competitor.