Thats because they ask the WRONG people, who know nothing of engineering or whats wrong/or in fact possible, or why.
And... The wrong questions.
Every time I fill in any of those stupid forms I give up after the first few question since the questions are simply WRONG and dont make any sense from an engineering perspective as far as actually making a better chair is concerned.
One example. If you ask a user if they want a faster or slower chair, they will allmost all answer faster. But I chose 6mph over 8mph on my last chair for about 6 or so reasons that these sort of questions do not address. So you will get a load of manufacturers producing faster chairs based on the survey. With huge consequenses that the user did not understand when answering the question. When designing a chair there are a mass of compromises. Or worse, the questions do not adress the chair design at all! Almost always they already have some wizbang stair climbing/balancing idea and the questions are trying to justify how marvelous it would be.
Ask the user the same question regarding range. Or torque. Or control. Or hill/ramp climbing capability. Or battery lifespan. Or charge time. Or weight. Or how compact they want a chair, or stability. Or any number of things. Because more speed for examply, works directly against all of the above. Yet they would answer these questions with more torque, more control, more range, more compact etc too... They want a 30mph barstool, with the comfort and stability of a armchair, and the range of a car, in a 50lb folding chair with off road capability that makes tea and climbs stairs...
And every question is the same or even worse, than the above example. Thats why we end up with what we get.
Another examply.
Ask, does your chair have enough range for what you do daily? Almost all answer yes. Because a. they never run out. And b. Because they have learned its limitations and conform to what it allows . Its limiting what they do or attempt to do subconsiously, but they simply accept that as normal.
Ask them if they want 4x the range, all will answer yes... And they will use it. Because their expectations have now changed.
Yet its the same question. And speed reduces this...