My hybrid Camry had them directly behind the rear seats, in the trunk. No firewall between it and the passengers compartment. You could touch them while sitting in the rear seat through the pass-thru.

That design was from 2012 though. It’s been around a long time, and hasn’t been an issue. But, that’s with Toyota build quality and a sealed interior, not Dodge affordability and an open top jeep.

Keep in mind the NTSB is just for investigation of accidents, and making recommendations on how to reduce those accidents.

Very specifically, that is their job.

They’re responsible for suggesting things like:

Graduated drivers license laws for young drivers
age-21 drinking laws, smart airbag technology
center high-mounted stop lights
commercial drivers licenses
improved school bus construction standards

And about 70% of their recommendations do become regulations.

It’s VERY hard to argue that hard-coded speed limits are a bad thing. Personally, I’m an N+10 speed limit kinda guy, but I can still admit that having a car stop you from speeding is probably a good thing in most cases. They’re not writing these for me, they’re writing them for 20-year-old me.

Most every argument against it is: “I was doing something bad, and wanted to do something worse, and that maybe could cause an accident!”