Agreed. The matched speed rating policy is generally a rule for summer or all-season tires, NOT winter tires. For winter tires, a lower speed rating is generally acceptable for several reasons: most people drive far less aggressively in winter conditions, the lower speed ratings generally are associated with softer compounds (better cold traction), and the tires themselves are generally manufactured with lower speed rating ranges.
Even applying that rule hard and fast to summer tires is also stupid, as long as the driver and tire shop people know exactly what they are doing, there may even be instances where it's desired to downgrade speed ratings. Most cars tend to have H or V rated tires these days, yet let's say grandma doesn't want the harsh ride, and would realistically never get the car anywhere remotely close to the handling limits (the rule has little to do with speed than with tire stiffness). She may be much happier with a T rated tire. Possibly, this car also may have been equipped with T rated on the base model, but higher models were shod with H rated.
