Was proven in military jets where it was neccesary to handle the inherently unstable handling characteristics of highly manoevreable supersonic vehicles.

If you weren't faster and niftier than the other guy, you were dead anyway.

Once debugged at the expense of more than a few pilots, it got translated into a commercial arena.

Now it's coming down-market from aeroplanes to cars. But is it foolproof and durable enough to put up with the abuse that joe blow gives his car, rather than the exacting and FAA-enforced maintenance schedules of aircraft (whic aren't always done right, even in that field).

Or will these "improvements" in cars bring with them "improvements" in legislation that require strenuous and expensive maintenance schedules?

Perhaps it's all an idea of the repair shops? :-)