WUT?!? "The Sturdy Act"

[Packard]

My automatic start/stop feature on my Chrysler has about 30 excuses for not engaging, ranging from “battery charging”, “coolant temperature”, “cabin temperature” (running the fan on high in heat or AC), “not in the mood” is probably the only excuse not used.  It would take me a while to remember them all.

I did not have to remember them all.  It turns out that Google has done that for me.

(It is missing a few, I can’t thing of them now.)

a weak battery 
low battery charge
extreme temperatures
unfastened seatbelt
open door
excessive HVAC demands
steep incline
not reaching optimal engine temperature
high altitude
faulty sensors,
even a system fault requiring a diagnostic check at a dealership

 

[squall_line]

Regardless of anyone's position on this, either way, they cannot make it retroactive. At least in the US, it could only ever apply to items made after the date of implementation and likely only to the manufacturer. It would need to be made with the ability, built right into the item, but it would be up to the consumer to actually implement it. That kind of thing is far more difficult to regulate.
The choice to heed the information/warnings is based on everyone's risk tolerance.

It depends on how serious they are about it.  You can no longer list used drop-side cribs for sale even though they were made before the rule about drop-side cribs went into effect; you will get a takedown notice from the website and a nastygram from CSPC.  Consignment and second-hand stores won't accept them, either.  So, there IS a mechanism to "ban" items even retroactively, but something like a crib that has a limited lifespan and useful time of purpose is much different from a chest of drawers, too, so it's less likely to actually happen.

Do you really take the battery out of your drill to change bits?  I bet the handbook tells us too.

It's too inconvenient to loosen and tighten a Jacob's chuck without power to the drill, so that's a resounding No from me.

That said, I'm still paranoid enough that there are some tools that I will unplug or remove batteries to change out the business ends, usually if the triggers are more exposed and prone to activation.

Those "occupancy switches" are still around, they just don't function quite so harshly. Most of them are just connected to the seat belt warning light/buzzer. My truck does it when I put enough Systainers on the passenger seat. I end up having to belt them in to shut it up.
Some of them might also activate/de-activate passenger air-bags?

Most of them activate/deactivate the passenger airbags, either for safety reasons (small passenger who is more likely to be injured than protected by an airbag) or for economic reasons (why pay to replace an airbag that doesn't need it in the case of a collision?).

I had a rental once whose passenger seat sensor was so sensitive that I couldn't put anything more than my ballcap on the seat without it yelling at me about the seatbelt.  That made for a long trip.

 

[Packard]

I watched a YouTube video by Bent that that was recommended in another thread and showed him adjusting the tablesaw’s blade height.  He used a height block and his fingertips to adjust the height.

I always unplug my saw when I am going to touch the blade.  Maybe Mr. Bent does too and neglected to mention it because he assumed everyone unplugs the saw before touching the blade.

I hope everyone unplugs when working on the cutting ends of tooling.  I did not think about battery removal.  I think I’m careless around portable electric drills.  I often pull the trigger and grasp the chuck when I am sequencing from a large bit to a small one.  I may rethink that, but for some reason I think of a drill as a fairly benign piece of machinery.

As an aside, we all know not to walk under ladders.  I was in Lowes today and they had an exceptionally tall A-frame ladder on display.  To prevent anyone (but probably had kids in mind) they wrapped the entire A-frame from floor to top rung with stretch wrap.  I thought it was clever.

 

[Crazyraceguy]

Do you really take the battery out of your drill to change bits?  I bet the handbook tells us too.

It's too inconvenient to loosen and tighten a Jacob's chuck without power to the drill, so that's a resounding No from me.

That said, I'm still paranoid enough that there are some tools that I will unplug or remove batteries to change out the business ends, usually if the triggers are more exposed and prone to activation.

I definitely don't with drills, or the Makita cordless trim routers, since it takes pushing of 2 buttons (in order) to start it.
I disconnect all of my Festool stuff, because the Plug-it cable is just so easy. I always unplug corded routers, miter saws, but I don't unplug table saws anymore. (to change the blade) The SawStop saws have the power switch near the on/off paddle. The industrial models that we have also have a lock-out/tag-out switches, but that's over-kill for a blade change.
But changing blade height? ah, no. I don't for router table bit height either. Now, changing the bit, yes.
With my particular set-up, I have to. The switch has to be off, to raise the bit high enough to lock the spindle. (I use a remote switch, so the actual router's switch is always on)

 

[mino]

The law is quite explicit that the item needs to pass the tip-over tests without anything special done by the consumer. So, attaching to walls is great, but the test is done with them not attached to walls.
...

Thank you for the clarification.

That is the LITERAL definition of idiots (medical definition) ruling a country. They just go ahead to make every home into the literal asylum - as that is the only place they can feel safe in. "Do not dry your kids in microwaves!" crowd.

By the same logic I can stipulate a water pipe must be able to prevent leakage without an additional component like a valve being involved. Or that a bottle cap must not be possible to remove from a bottle to prevent one losing it or being able to drink from the bottle safely*) .. wait, they just did that in the EU!

The end of Rome. Now live on your mobile phone!

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*) after almost making a hole in my eye from one such bottle I made it a point of cutting the cap off with a knife, so I do not hurt myself, and throwing the left over to the ground if outside. That is the only way to deal with (eco)terrorists. Not one inch given.

 

[Crazyraceguy]

Or that a bottle cap must not be possible to remove from a bottle to prevent one losing it or being able to drink from the bottle safely*) .. wait, they just did that in the EU!

I'm sure they don't give a flying damn about you "losing" it......the whole thing has to be about pollution/waste. They don't want people discarding them.

We had a very similar thing in the 1970s-early 80s with aluminum cans. Beer, soda, etc.
The original beer cans were steel, and not self-openable. It took a separate tool to get them open.
When the switched over to pull-tab aluminum cans, the tab itself tore completely off. The combination of littering and the safety hazard of stepping on them, caused a change. After that, they were required to open without any parts being removed.

But it's a can, everybody knows it's a one-time thing. You can't reseal it.
Bottles are theoretically resealable, so people might want to keep the cap. The new water bottles are so thin that they are essentially a bag. Once opened, they have no structural firmness.
If it truly is about pollution, the politicians are once again missing the point. "A person who would throw the cap on the ground, will do the same with the bottle."

Is this for all bottles? or specific to single serving drink bottles?

 

[mino]

On the serious side:

TLDR:
IMO such a regulation is not only idiotic, it is actually anti-safety in all scenarios where people are not placed into literal asylums.

---
The issue is that there are other items in a home that are non-dangerous to adults yet can kill kids. The less such items are on the market, the less one needs to think about them (like with the mandatory straps etc. before this idiocy was enacted), hence the more likely one is to not think about them at all.

When I was a kid, all high furniture were either heavy pieces (which I climbed over) or were fixed to the wall. The first thing friends did when they moved into a new place was ensure all cabinets and windows were secured. Remove this awareness - by making stuff not "require" such thinking by default and the situation will get worse.

The worst part of this is it has a generational delay - you institute a stupid regulation, safety improves FIRST. Because the negative effects of over-regulation needs a new generation to be raised before they manifest themselves.

How this works:
We had this here with gas appliances. Up to the 70s there were no mandatory safety valves on stoves, so no one (sane) would leave a running natural gas stove unattended. Also, gas ovens were known to be dangerous if not started properly - the burner needs to heat up first, before low or max flame can be set. So EVERYONE READ AND FOLLOWED the instructions for the appliances.

Thus in the 1960s there were few gas accidents in homes. There were some, but very few. Most were from leaks as flexible gas piping was not available then.

Enter 1980s and safety stoves are introduced. Great! The few accidents that happened from negligence are eliminated. SUCCESS! Umm, not so fast!

Enter 2000s the first generation who was raised with the "safe" appliances starts their families and rents or buys older houses. OOPS! A blown up house every couple months. I.e. there are now several times more accidents than in the 1960s, before the safety regulations.

Enter 2020s, most of the old appliances are removed from circulation, accidents go down again, but THE POPULATION IS EVEN MORE OBLIVIOUS NOW. So .. a 12-story block blows up (30 flats) because during a renovation they installed new sealed windows in the staircase and did not replace the natural draft ventilation the original windows provided which the existing gas installation presumed .. gas leak happens, air-gas mixture accumulates in enclosed and now un-ventilated staircase .. BOOM! The only reason the building, was made from concrete but steel-connected panels and the steel was tough-enough to keep the panels mostly in place when while the stair case completely collapsed .. the 50 folks living there got born again.

Conclusion:
Gas is dangerous! DUH! Sure it is so. Especially in the hands of people who are nanny-state groomed so are just plain oblivious to continued ventilation being a must where it is used ..

Rinse and repeat ..

Now, that gas story has a good ending, with gas appliances it IS possible to secure all of them and the problem with "all is OK" folks buying houses with "old type" appliances is only transient.

With furniture this is not so.
It is NOT possible to prevent all possible physical dangers to kids without turning the homes into Orwell-style-state-inspected asylums. Well, tThose from NO know what I mean ..

 

[mino]

...
If it truly is about pollution, the politicians are once again missing the point. "A person who would throw the cap on the ground, will do the same with the bottle."

Is this for all bottles? or specific to single serving drink bottles?

All single-use bottles for drink-able stuff. Including 2,5 liter ones(!). Does not apply to detergents, vinegar, etc.

Now, these regulations come from certain position of "I am better than thou, I shall rule you against your will for the betterment of you! Thou shall be thankful for it!" We know them well over here.

My parents called such people Bosheviks, they called themselves Communists. Over here they ruled 1946-1989 and were summarily thrown out in 1989. Why? The legend says because "they were totalitarian and people wanted freedom". Nope. The 80s were less totalitarian than today EU state of affairs. Significantly so. Yes, I remember that time. The sad truth is, people will accept a nanny-state which works.

But a nanny state cannot work. A few decades, living off pre-nanny culture and knowledge - absolutely. Not long term. The system does not pass know-how to the next generation or generate new one.
Here, people have thrown the Communists out after there came a society-scale consensus that the top-heavy centrally-planed nanny-state approach is not working economy, which it did not indeed.

Little did we realise then these same type of "well-meaning" people will come back "through the window" from the US and Western Europe two decades later ..

So, I understand very well the people making these rules do not care one iota what "a stupid citizen" thinks. The Bosheviks built a whole philosophy around the concept of a "stupid citizen" needing "guidance".
Yet, once a critical mass of people realised it does not work, it no longer mattered what they "ruling" thought.

If I "turn" one person who did not see the problem in a regulation like this ... it was time well spent.

To mods, above is not a political statement.

I care not a iota who is the ruling party/person/ideology in this context. Stupid regulations MUST be attacked and ridiculed. That is the only way to get rid of them and prevent/limit incoming ones.