Product liability issues are also prevalent in all the other industries. It's not like the aviation industry is labouring under a completely different legal burden that the automotive, whitegoods or other manufacturers don't have to face.
The issue comes down to product volumes. In aviation, the volumes are pretty marginal to support radical development of new aircraft and to cover liability costs, especially in the US market.
The fact that a conservative company like Cessna has come out with a couple of potential new products is more indicative of two things - the LSA market might be big enough to support a clean sheet product, and the US Aviation Revitalisation Act probably gave them a helping hand with the sums for their New Generation GA aircraft.
Neither have actually seen the production light of day yet mind, and from what I hear, the O-200 isn't yet a dead cert for the Skyscratcher anyway.
A