#for good measure: i am really bad with cars. i can't tell a brand from another and all that. so take this with a spoonful of salt

[magpie-trinkets]

Luke is now properly seated, hand in seatbelt still, and he looks at Emmy with his eyebrows raised in beffudlement or surprise. Anyway, in this frame we can better appreciate the back of the car. The door features a handle for opening and closing (is it secured? do old cars have this feature?) and a crank, supposedly for lowering the window glass. Luke maintains the window closed on his part: we must imagine, then, that this morning is quite chilly. The seats look to be made of leather, and they don't look very comfortable, they look like planks of wood honestly. I forgot to mention, but Emmy's seat (and, by extension, all the seats) lack a headrest or head restrainer:

This thing here is to protect the head and the neck from bending too much in collisions. According to Wikipedia, they became mandatory in the late 1960s¹ – now, if we take the fan theory that the Layton series takes place during the 1960s, we could argue that they are driving before they became mandatory in the UK.

¹. From the Internet Archive (Proposal, Plans and Policy December 2000) (this is for the USA):

“Since January 1, 1969, passenger cars have been required by FMVSS [Federal Motor Vehicle Safety Standard] 202 to have head restraints in the front outboard seating positions. FMVSS 202 also applies to light trucks manufactured after August 31, 1991.”

I suppose or deduce that the regulations in the UK might've came around the same time. I have been looking at vintage cars from that time and most of them lack a head restraint or have a very simple one. From the same document as the previous paragraph:

“This proposal would harmonize many parts, but not all of FMVSS 202 with the Economic Commission for Europe Regulation No. 25 (ECE 25) - Uniform Provisions Concerning the Approval of Head Restraints (Head Rests), Whether or Not Incorporated in Vehicle Seats.) ECE 25 became effective beginning with newly introduced models approved after January 15, 1999, and all other vehicles 48 months later.”

The ECE 25 was put into force in January 15 1997 (including 4 amendments) according to the text itself. (By that time the UK was part of Europe, so I'm guessing this applied there as well.)

Now, what conclusions do we take from this? I have no fucking idea. I have looked at UK cars from the 60s, 70s and 80s for good measure, but I'm not knowledgeable about cars. The seats are hard to see, since what matters to vintage collectors is the outside, but the seats I could see lacked a head restraint like we know today.

Like, look at this thing, apparently an Austin Mini Metro, famous in the 80s:

I GUESS that's TECHNICALLY a head restraint, but it sure looks to me like they weren't regulated and each manufacturer did whatever they wanted.

Conclusion, This Time For Realsies: The Laytonmobile seems to be a faithful vintage car as it lacks head restraints. I have seen mentioned here and there that much of the safety features we have were once optional features in luxury cars, like more comfortable seating, head restraints, etc. Thus we can deduce that tye Laytonmobile is old, even for its time, or that it's a normal, "cheap" car.