In theory what earth said is true but in reality such a cartel being formed is incredibly unlikely, even if a group of companies attempted it, one company would not sign up to it or break ranks to produce rim pads. The lure of the potential monopoly would be too strong.
Anyway, I almost went splat a couple of weeks ago when someone pulled out right in front of me as I was going along at 25mph and I had no-where to swerve as there was no pavement and there was a truck coming the other way. I missed their bumper by a foot or so. There are a lot of occasions when cycling on these narrow country lanes and going through villages where I wish I had them. On my MTB I can be going down a 10% gradient and I barely have to squeeze them and I'm practically over the handlebars, my road bike is just terrible in comparison despite being so much lighter.
Starting to think that given that and given the appalling state of the roads around here a CX bike would make a better general training bike.