Curses, you've uncovered our dastardly plot! All that work to make driving safer was really just a front to extract money from the masses.
(Did you know we use 0W20 oil in the tire formulations? Shhh, don't tell anyone...)
I think once the lawyers got involved, (google lawsuits when tire dealers put new tires on front) it became a cover-your-ass situation for all tire manufacturers and tire dealers. It also happened to benefit both tire manufacturers and tire dealers (in the name of safety), so it really was a no-brainer for them to push this policy.
Here is a good read on how this whole "new tires on rear" got started in the early 2000's when a law firm that specialized in vehicular personal injury lawsuits had a link on Wikipedia when searching oversteer/understeer.
How a bogus Wikipedia entry changed nationwide tire company policy
http://shallowsky.com/blog/misc/wikipedia-tire-company-policy.html
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