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Almost every time I write something its kind of airing something that I find annoying, this time is no different. In fact I’m defending the right to criticise, that is if its warranted. A little while back I had a car accident, I wasn’t travelling very fast maybe 30km/hr and when the air bag deployed it broke my nose. So I did a bit of research and watched a report on air bags fitted in Hondas (like mine), not exactly riveting but the parallels are uncanny. You see it would be safe to assume that everyone who has designed an airbag has done so in an attempt to protect people. They, in their heart of hearts probably even had a sense of accomplishment thinking about the number of lives they will save and probably already have. There was one particular company who probably with the same ideals designed what they thought, to the best of their knowledge would serve its purpose. The problem is their design actually caused more harm than good. These particular air bags when deployed actually fired out all kinds of projectiles that actually killed and disfigured many people. At last count there were 27 deaths & over 300 severe injuries. Some of these tragic events even occurred in minor accidents & it was proven that it would have been safer for the individual to have no air bag fitted than this particular type. So what should we have done? Ignored this issue so as not to offend or upset the manufacturer? Kept producing them and turn a blind eye to the inadequacies they present? Make up an excuse that it’s not them that perhaps it’s the steering wheel? Maybe it’s the way the individual drove? We’ve done it this way for years & its worked fine? Thankfully all involved decided to address the issue. They did a recall of that particular brand. They took on a new supplier who had the most stringent of stringent testing of their designs rather than stay loyal to that brand. They tested their products under extreme pressure to ensure that when the time came they were confident it would work. They even engaged in problem solving so as to cover every conceivable variable that may occur.  Obviously martial arts isn’t as serious as this but you get the idea. This is why I feel the need to speak up and encourage others to do so. You see there are still some people out there who have integrity and actually care about the material they put out. There are people out there who legitimately test their system not unlike the air bags and an even braver few who would scrap their entire system if they discovered it to be ineffective. If your goal is to help people protect themselves just like the air bag, than the following actions may be considered negligent:
 Theres differing levels of 'pressure' testing Its simple really, remove the emotional attachment thus removing the cognitive bias.
Jeff Phillips
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