I am so skeptical of the claim that the auto parts systems (which are truly a miracle of efficiency) would not have happened without NASA. Sorry, I just don’t buy it.
Nobody's claiming that it "would not have happened without NASA", it's just that the NASA space program provided a need for such a system to be developed as well as the funding that went into it.......
The same thing can be said about all the cutting edge technology that went into placing men on the moon, especially the propellant systems needed to just get the rockets out of our atmosphere........