> we also mandate that cars come with first aid kit.
This is standard in Europe. Yes, we should. Small, light weight, low cost, and "it's better to have it and not need it than to need it and not have it".
I had a puncture in a hire car a couple of years ago and was distressed to find they no longer bother with spare tyres - at least in the UK. Not sure if this is some money saving escapade, or if it's because most drivers no longer knows how to change a wheel.
Instead had to wait hours for a tow truck and a replacement tyre.
Vest and first aid kit cost like €15, absolutely should have them - although I'm not convinced the typical "cut finger" first aid kit would be much help. Sure if you knick yourself changing your wheel (which of course you don't do any more), but I wonder what level of injury it's useful for when looking at a typical crash.
Removing the spare tire shaves 20-40lbs off the weight of the car. Manufacturers are more strongly incentivized to lower fleet average fuel economy and emissions, which reducing weight does, and more so than they are incentivized to provide adequate safety equipment like a spare tire. So, you get a can of goo and an air compressor.
In the US some cars just have run flats. But the common case is to just have a donut spare even in cars that can theoretically go off-roading. I suppose the logic is a full size spare takes a lot of room and there are a lot of things that can go wrong beyond a flat and people who use their cars off-road will outfit as needed.
This is standard in Europe. Yes, we should. Small, light weight, low cost, and "it's better to have it and not need it than to need it and not have it".
And tire jack/spare tire, and a reflector vest.