http://www.autonet.ca/AutonetStories/stories.cfm?storyID=5798

 

Bringing even more meaning to the acronym

Fix
Or
Repair
Daily

Between the Pinto's fuel tank and the firestone tire fiasco, Ford is already holder of two of the most deadly automotive defects in history.

I found it quite telling that ford knew for almost 5 years about the firestone tire defect but put off any type of recall so that if the issue was ever forced the replacement costs would be lower due to most of the tires wearing out.

The case of the pinto's design was taught in my vehicle design class as a lesson of what not to do about design defects. Even before the vehicle was on the road the engineers knew that the fuel tank's placement made ruptures very likely. Since it was too late to change the car's design after it was already in production a humane engineer came up with a $5 dollar piece of plastic that would shield the tank from a sharp corner on the axle differential and greatly reduce the chance of tank ruptures.

Fords legal and accounting departments decided that this would be an admission of a design defect and that the cost of fighting and settling lawsuits would be only about $3 per vehicle. Therefore the plastic piece was left off of all models (except the government's crash test vehicles) and almost a hundred people were burned to death just to save a couple of bucks on a several thousand dollar car.

Reading that article it appears either quality is no longer job one at ford, or the old rules of fuck the fix and fight the lawsuits is still a means of increasing profitability.

 

:o Yikes, I heard about this a week ago or so. How crappy. Makes me not wanna buy an SVT Focus even more.....even though I really did like it.

 

Hmmm, let's see....i've ran 1 rally event, 1 auto-x and 3 track events with my Focus and haven't had a problem yet.

But, that does suck for the people that experienced that shit.

Patrick

 

Everyone seems to be forgetting the part of the article that mentions GM:

NHTSA also is stepping up its investigation into nearly half a million General Motors Corp. vehicles after 28 crashes were blamed on a possible steering problem. More than 1,200 people have complained that the steering rack and pinion suddenly locked up while they were driving.

The investigation involves the 1998 Oldsmobile Intrigue and 1997 models of the Pontiac Grand Prix, Pontiac Tran Sport, Chevrolet Venture, Chevrolet Malibu, Oldsmobile Silhouette and Oldsmobile Cutlass.

The problem can cause the driver to lose steering control. GM reported six crashes in which eight people were hurt, but no injuries or deaths were reported in the other 22 crashes.

 

Always comforting to be driving an import at times like these.

 

Every auto manufacturer is going to have some sort of problem to deal with. No machine can ever be made 100% perfect.

What is important is what kind of ethical and engineering decisions go into making a car, and when mistakes occur how they go about dealing with them. Since peoples lives are at stake, quality control is also VERY important. Even the best design in the world wont be worth a shit if the manufacturing process sucks.

Ford is certainly not the only company guilty of the the kinds of things I have mentioned in my earlier post. This really can't just be blamed on Nasser either. Its more of a corporate culture problem where the bottom line rules. Whether its vehicle stability, padded dashboards, saftey glass, seatbelts or airbags, the auto industry has resisted spending any additional money (even if it is a few extra bucks per car) for safety for decades.

I didn't mean for my post to appear to be just a ford bash. They just happened to be the subject at hand.

 

speaking of the 1998 oldsmobile intrigue, thats the car i own.

http://www.alldata.com/TSB/43/984345IB.html

this link just shows all the problems wrong with the car. i need to take in my car to the lokey oldsmobile off of gulf to bay blvd. to get some of those problems fixed. the only bad thing is my warrant on the car ended in january. but if these parts have been recalled, im hoping to get them fixed at no cost...i have no clue whats going to happen.

but some of the known problems with my car are: leaks oil like a bitch(which i had fixed under warranty in january), my fuel gauge is very inaccurate because the needle will move a lot, my speedometer is possibly off, depending on the accuracy of the radar things(i drove by one of those things that are on the road that show your speed. it said i was going 56, when my speedometer was probably about 62 or 63), my instrument pannel rattles, the windows will stick when they are in full upright position, and the chrome piece that runs on top of my side passenger door is hanging off(i also had fixed back in january under warranty).

 

speaking of the 1998 oldsmobile intrigue, thats the car i own.

http://www.alldata.com/TSB/43/984345IB.html

this link just shows all the problems wrong with the car. i need to take in my car to the lokey oldsmobile off of gulf to bay blvd. to get some of those problems fixed. the only bad thing is my warrant on the car ended in january. but if these parts have been recalled, im hoping to get them fixed at no cost...i have no clue whats going to happen.

but some of the known problems with my car are: leaks oil like a bitch(which i had fixed under warranty in january), my fuel gauge is very inaccurate because the needle will move a lot, my speedometer is possibly off, depending on the accuracy of the radar things(i drove by one of those things that are on the road that show your speed. it said i was going 56, when my speedometer was probably about 62 or 63), my instrument pannel rattles, the windows will stick when they are in full upright position, and the chrome piece that runs on top of my side passenger door is hanging off(i also had fixed back in january under warranty).