^ that actually just changed, long after airbags became prevalent.

It was a no-no due to drivers pulling into an empty space not seeing Junior ramming through from the opposite side of the parking lot across two face-to-face stalls.

I’m going to have to question the veracity of this being a best practice in all scenarios. When there is even one vehicle blocking your view of potential vehicles zeroing in on the opposite spot it’s a dangerous manoeuvre.

A recent (January) article on this very thing. No consensus.

https://vancouverisland.ctvnews.ca/should-you-pull-through-in-parking-lots-experts-divided-1.4269504

The driving schools seem to avoid reversing as much as possible, ICBC is mostly concerned with a collision. Maybe split the difference and pull through when you can clearly see, e.g. not when boxed in.

Parking lot manoeuvres should be at a low enough speed to avoid frontal collisions like that. The bigger concern is the reaction of the one driver being blocked by the pulling through driver. ;)