You can't avoid cars with these anti-features if you want a new car. They're required by law in the EU.

Catalytic converters are required by law too, yet I know plenty who have done a "cat delete" on their vehicle. As a simpler example, pulling the seatbelt chime fuse was a common mod long ago when I grew up. You may want to check if the modding scene has any solutions for your make and model.

If you modify your car in such a way in the EU it won’t pass the mandatory yearly inspection which means it’s no longer road legal.

You obviously restore your mods before the inspections, and redo them afterwards. Even the "stupid Americans" know that much. ;-)

Yeah, that's why I don't buy new cars. Put up or shut up.

Because it's otherwise a great car. I did notice the problems during the test-drive, but I figured it wasn't a problem, since it could be turned off in the console. So I turned them off and forgot all about it. I would never have imagined that some obscure EU-regulation, that I've never heard about, would require them to turn back on.