In the sixties, Chevrolet had these defective engine mounts. When you pressed the gas pedal, the engine would rise, pulling the throttle cable which would cause wide open throttle. This caused many crashes. GM responded by saying that anybody who can’t control a car at low speeds shouldn’t have a license to drive.
When they finally recalled, the fix was to attach a stainless steel cable to the exhaust manifold and the upper control arm attachment point. Both the response and the fix ruined GM’s reputation for years.
Pontiac had the same problem but fixed it early, offered the new design to Chevy and the rest of the divisions but Chevy wasn’t going to pay for the new ones.
Mitsubishi large projection TVs less then 5 years old have major problems the DVM board. Yet Mitsubishi basically left its customers out to dry. I will never buy a Mitsubishi product of any Kind!
I’ve been in Materials Management all my career. There was a story circulating some years back that a Chinese refrigerator manufacturer had a manufacturing flaw in its product. The plant manager, the design engineer, AND THE MATERIALS MANAGER were taken to a field behind the plant and executed. So there is an example of a manufacturer who did not get away. Conversely, there are manufacturers of Sport Utility Vehicles (particularly the Fords) where the vehicle seems to literally “jump” off its feet during any kind of a violent manuever. I saw a Ford SUV flipped over 100 yards out from the exit of a Pennsylvania turnpike toll gate. There was no ice, no rain, no curve, no other vehicle involved. Every couple days I hear or read of another flipped SUV, and there have been hundreds killed in the U.S. alone … but are Ralph Nader, Ray LaHood, and Clarence Ditlow going after the SUV manufacturers?
“The plant manager, the design engineer, AND THE MATERIALS MANAGER were taken to a field behind the plant and executed. So there is an example of a manufacturer who did not get away.”
Hopefully you are not advocating the execution of people who design and market defective refrigerators, but in the situation that you described, there is the remaining question:
Did the company actually rectify the flaw or did they just execute some of their personnel?
As to flipped-over SUVs, the fact remains that many people somehow think that these top-heavy vehicles will corner like a sports car and stop on a dime. If an SUV is pushed to its limits of handling, it is much more likely to roll over than a passenger sedan would be. Until someone can point out a specific defect in these vehicles, I attribute the vast majority of that type of accident to drivers who are (pick one or more):
Distracted (by a cellphone conversation, eating fast food, texting, putting on makeup, changing CDs, etc.)
Unskilled
Driving too fast for road conditions
Just plain stupid
Over the past few years, I have observed that the vast majority of drivers who tailgate are those piloting SUVs. While I am by no means a slow driver, I frequently look into my rearview mirror only to see a woman in a (pick one): Lincoln Navigator/Nissan Armada/Infiniti QX/Lexus LX/Toyota Land Cruiser/Cadillac Escalade yakking on her hand-held cellphone while driving about 7 feet behind my rear bumper while we travel at 70 mph. In most of these situations, I am in the right or center lane, and it would be possible for the SUV driver to safely pass me in the unoccupied left lane, but instead, they choose to ride my rear bumper, oblivious to what is happening in front of them.
I believe that these people are so distracted or clueless that they have no concept of the distance that it would take to stop a vehicle from 70 mph. Tailgating is one of the driving behaviors that can lead to situations like rollover accidents. Surely I can’t be the only one to have made that observation.
"but are Ralph Nader, Ray LaHood, and Clarence Ditlow going after the SUV manufacturers? "
At least Ralph most certainly has. Because any off road vehicle is a compromise in “on road handling”, it’s up to the manufacturer to inform owners which they are now obliged to do. It’s up to the driving public to operate it safely within the manufacturers guildlines. That’s what Ralph Nader stood for; truth in advertising. He was and is more of a libertarian in that respect and not the anti free marketeer that conservatives had played him out to be. The older Explorers were death traps IMO. The newer mid size Ford SUVs more car like, to make up for poor uninformed driving choices.
Ford complied with Nader’s request. In the glove box of a Ford Explorer there is a thick manual on how to drive an SUV, and explains its handling characteristics. Having served in the army and driven all manner of vehicles, i can see why the book assumes the SUV owner is a complete idiot in terms of driving dynamics knowledge. It does an excellent job explaining SUV behavior that even the dimmest owner could understand, IF HE READ THE BOOK!!!
Well said. It’s amazing how many people drive truck like SUV’s (Expeditions not with standing) like cars. But then usually these people can’t or won’t read it…not enough pictures I guess. At least in the Army, there was a reason for all those Jeep rollovers, you’re being shot at and made a decision.
I had a terrible experience with a Whirlpool hot water heater – It had a poorly designed thermocouple which couldn’t keep the pilot light lit and seemed to have a lifespan of about 6 months. This was an incredibly widespread problem and Whirlpool was very frustrating to deal with.
We ended up junking a 2 year old hot water heater because it went through 5 thermocouples. We got sick of cold showers, constantly relighting the pilot, and getting replacement parts.
In the late’70’s I was a “tire man” at a local Firestone dealer. At that point I was oblivious to the recall on the infamous Firestone 500 steel radial, which simply disintegrated during driving. Many people died. (Later I remembered seeing the CEO, or some Firestone higher up, in a TV commercial, saying something to the effect that “…we at Firestone knowingly violated many government safety regulations…”)
I think this was well after the recall had started, which involved over 7 million units! I remember thinking, What an idiot! Why didn’t they just fess up to begin with? (I wonder what the Chinese government would have done with this guy?!)
Anyway, I was replacing 5 Firestone 500’s on a late '70’s Vette one day. I noticed that the spare tire, which had never even been on the car, was “pregnant”! IOW, it had broken or shifted belts–a huge bubble in the tread area. The shop manager explained to me that it was unheard of for a tire, never having been on the car, and therefore, never having been subjected to heat from rolling resistance, cornering forces, etc–for that tire to develop broken or shifted belts. The injection mold “teats” were still on the tread surface!
Not all 500’s were on the recall list. The tire salesmen told me stories about hysterical husbands, after being told either that the DOT numbers on their 500’s, or their vehicle VIN’–weren’t on the recall list–almost leaping the counter trying to strangle the salesman. (“My wife and KID ride in this car!!”)
Then there were the enterprising individuals who had combed junkyards for wheels with Firestone 500’s on them. You’d see a pickup truck pull up full of old Firestone 500’s! We told these guys to jump in a lake.
In high school we did the play or at least had to go through it"All my sons" by Arthur Miller,this play went into detail about a defense contractor who developed a conscience after some bad castings cost some lives(the moral is-never do something you will regret later.Some of us take other peoples lives and property seriuosly)-Kevin
Sorry, kmccune, I didn’t mean to sound callous. It’s just that in retrospect some of these shop anecdotes seem comical. If Firestone corporation refused to recall certain tires, there was nothing the tire dealer franchise could do. Ditto for tires that came in not on a vehicle.
You’ll note my incredulity at a company designing a tire that develops a tread separation before it ever leaves the spare compartment. Also the preposterousness of the CEO trying to save face by admitting guilt when it was too late–as though that made everything hunky dory.
When I was a mechanic I routinely lay in bed at night fretting over whether I had fixed someone’s brakes just right, or tightened the lug nuts properly, etc. At one dealership I had screaming matches with the foreman when I refused to put an inspection sticker on a used car that didn’t pass inspection.
No,no Karl I wasnt referring to you I have had the same experience myself-I too take my job seriously and with a conscience.To many times in one town have I been screwed(I no longer do business there) In another town about 60 miles away,I have never had a bad experience with the techs or mechanics(hope everyone can find a group like that)Good Mechanics like you are pretty hard to find-Kevin