How long does it take for auto innovations to reach the US from Japan? -

Japan is clearly an automotive leader, and I m sure it takes a while for testing and approvals before changes are made, but roughly how long would it take before an innovation made in Japan made its way to the US market?

It typically takes a couple years to test out a concept before it makes it into production, just to be sure it ll hold up to real world use. If there aren t any legal barriers to selling it in the United States, they can usually roll out something in both the Japanese domestic market and US market at the same time. Sometimes it takes a couple extra years to bring a car to the United States if it doesn t pass American crash or emissions standards. And occasionally it s something else that delays the launch, such as making sure something that works for Japanese traffic can also hold up to Americans tendancies to put tens of thousands of miles on a car a year or do sustained driving over 60 mph (which is kind of hard to do in Japan). And then there are a few innovations that I think didn t take long enough to make it to the United States, that got launched without enough testing. I ve heard that Honda Insights are way down on power after 60,000 miles, for example. Another thing that comes to mind is the rash of cars with four wheel steering of the early 90s.