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ThrustVectoring comments on The cup-holder paradox - Less Wrong Discussion
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The LW memeplex may be somewhat too ready to buy into the hypothesis that a given group of people is insane. People do generally respond to incentives, and situations where there are large incentives that people aren't responding to are probably worth an explanation more descriptive than generic insanity.
Given what I understand to be the dominant stereotypes about American cars, though, I do think it's plausible that American car manufacturers are insane. I don't know about others.
If I'm reading this correctly, this can be summarized with the principle-agent problem. Getting the cupholders right doesn't have incentives that line up with their relative importance for the car industry - my guess is that a large part of it is being a less prestigious work assignment. This is based off of "if I was really into cars, what would I want to work on?" Engines, aerodynamics, and control systems top the list - lots of complexity, and it's something that is obviously difficult to get right (hence, you must be an awesome engineer if you can get it right).