GM Hates Its Customers

seriously............

 

The first technical part is interesting that driving skills are now so poor and tech dependant we dont assume someone will be able to steer and brake a stalled motor. So a staticticaly minor probelm is now huge.

For the whole debacle, to me its just corporate culture of passing the buck keeping your box clean and as long as no blame assigns to you then no problem. All this compounded by a lack of leadership culture structure at the top where somoene is responsible for the whole product.

This can usualy be seen as sub par construction or reliability, although ironicaly Gm has made some decent products over the past few years and this is a safety issue. In the end it all goes back to corporate culture of checkign boxes and following the manual so even if there is a big problem you can prove you are not to blame.

Given what Toyota was hit with over one set of floor mats, the costs to Gm could be epic, especialy as every crash of these cars is going to be blamed on this.

I was wondering whethjer keyless go is cheaper to produce thana key emchanism and eliminates this potential issue?

 

The feeling is mutual as far as I'm concerned. I've come this far without ever owning a GM product and I doubt I ever will.

 

Not that such an inane post deserves a response, but here goes: Should GM's mission statement really be "Let's Kill our Customers", I'd think they could come up with a far more efficient way to do it than an overloaded ignition key that can on very rare occasions cause the vehicle to shut off. A non event to those of us that can actually drive.
I suppose the Italians, Germans and Japanese are even better than the Americans at it with their flaming Ferraris, exploding Porsche motors and "accelerating" Toyotas.

Your loss.

 

It's not hate, it's more that they view these problems as acceptable losses. They have or had a huge market and well, if they lose a few along the way... BTW I do believe the population is getting dumber and that no manufacturer will be able to build a safe car for every moron out there. Didn't a guy in a Toyota have his throttle stick wide open, I think he called and talked to 911 before he crashed and died. Bottom line is, life is dangerous and it's just more dangerous if your stupid.

 

if GM decides its an acceptable loss, at least GM can inform the public so we can decide if we want to take on the risk. once the ignition goes off so does the power brakes, power steering, airbag, and lights.

 

Bathtubs kill more people per year than car crashes. How do those evil slime ball bathtub designers sleep at night? That's what I want to know.

 

Same could be said for Toyota

 

Isn't there a known rollover problem under certain conditions with the Jeep Cherokee? Jeep Grand Cherokee moose test -- the full story - YouTube

 

Your opinion. So far, I'm not feeling the loss.....

 

I have to tell you, my Corvette C7 is a really fine car. I drove it from Vegas to LA today. There aren't many cars I would enjoy more than this car for this kind of journey.

I have had exactly no problems with it at all. My only issue is the paint is crap. But, I suppose you get what you pay for!

 

If you don't have repeat business, why not kill them and save a few bucks.

 

Sounds like nothing new under the sun and GM is not alone in this kind of business. Dont know (who would) when allowing acceptable losses started in car business, seems that since 70's at least, but it also seems that as long companies can win or deal these with army of lawyers and money, nothing will change.

 

Please choose something else, like soda causing obesity. Nobody is going to believe that 50k Americans per year die in bathtubs.


BT

 

Its not a debate as to what is more dangerous a tub or a car. To me a company saving a few cents too far is the issue. One always wonders where other amounts were saved. But then which car companies build to a standard these days rather than a price.

As for Gm I really think they make some excellent products these days. This problem though indicates that somewhere within the labrynth there are managers and cost cutters of the old ilk, and this can affect the product in all types of ways, big and small, its a concern. Cue is an example of this too.

This though is like Ford and Firestone.

Somewhere you have to be able to trust the product, not just the parts you can see and Gm still has that question mark hanging over it, as do the other two.

Ironicaly the germans are cost cutting their cars while relying on reputation, so they can save while living on past glory, till people figure it out.

Basicaly if there is a focus on building good even if inexpensive as opposed to cheap cars, these things are unlikely to happen

 

So, in other words an automotive company had a few cases where a possibly faulty product caused a few folks that were absolutely clueless as to what to do when their ignition cut off to lose control of their vehicles. They attempted a running fix. Now the shysters and "accident reconstruction experts" are involved.
Just as was the case with the Firestone/Ford debacle, the Audi/Toyota unintended accell cases and the Porsche Turbos losing control-the consumer is assigned zero blame.
Pretty standard SOP for a company to try and address a problem in this fashion when problems(or alleged problems) first crop up.
Statistically speaking(especially now that there will be any and all crashes of a GM vehicle assigned this problem as the cause), it was a minor problem. They will have to pay out millions to minimize the feeding frenzy caused by the folks that should be the ones having difficulty sleeping.

From Popular mechanics:

Automakers issue recalls with great regularity, and most don't make headline news. The recent General Motors ignition switch recall different for two reasons: size and fatalities.

GM recently expanded this recall to include the 2003-2007 Saturn Ion, 2006-2007 Chevrolet HHR, 2006-2007 Pontiac Solstice, and 2007 Saturn Sky. Add that to the existing recall of the 2005-2007 Chevrolet Cobalt, Pontiac G5, and Pontiac Pursuit (a Canadian version of the G5), and the number of affected cars totals more than 1.3 million. That's huge—possibly big enough to be the largest recall of the year, and enough that it would have placed second in 2012 or 2013

(after Toyota-I guess they hate their customers too?).

The other big piece is that there are now 13 deaths in which the ignition switch fault could have contributed either to the crash or the failed deployment of a front airbag.

(Could have contributed-especially when combined with a clueless driver)

Recalls that involved injury are rare, and those that involve fatalities are almost non-existent. While 13 is a relatively small number (there are about 96 traffic deaths per day on average in the U.S.) GM's sweeping response shows that the company is serious about making sure no more tragedies occur.

(yup, recalling that many cars sure sounds like they want to kill their customers)

Here's what we know right now.

What Went Wrong

GM says that a large number of ignition switches didn't meet the proper specification. As a result, the switch can accidentally move into the "off" position, especially if there is any extra weight on the keyring, such as a hefty keychain, that could create a pendulum motion. When the car switches off, it loses power steering, ABS, and the air bags won't deploy. GM's solution is to replace the faulty ignition switches. As with all recalls, the repairs are done at no cost to the customer.

What To Do If Your Car is Part of the Recall

Don't panic. Odds are, nothing will happen to your car. According to GM Public Relations manager Alan Adler, the problem is appearing in only about 1 in 2000 of the recalled cars. As a cautionary measure until then, take everything off the keyring (including the remote fob). That should prevent the extra weight from pulling the ignition rock back into the "off" position. If your car still shuts off accidentally, stop driving it and contact your local dealer.

Did GM Know About This Problem Before?

There was a technical service bulletin (TSB) in 2005 related to the ignition problem. TSBs are common in the automotive industry. They happen when a carmaker has a specific solution to a problem, but the fix is made only if the customer complains. But TSBs aren't done for safety issues—the law requires automakers to issue a recall for that. GM has submitted the chronology of the issue to the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA). If NHTSA finds that GM acted too late, the company could be fined a maximum of $35 million.

 

Of course the biggest offenders of late have been the Japanese-Toyota specifically

 

Based on the posts about recent Ferraris, maybe not.

 

A big thick comfy bed?

I have driven GM my whole life, many high performance Pontiac Firebirds (they could kill you quickly, if your head was in your azz)...also Cadillacs (old ones and new ones)..

AND I can chime in, as my daughter has a Saturn Sky that is in the recall.
In fact her ignition switch DID fail, but when parking it jammed up and seized the key...

Two things about this:

It's aggravated by all the crap on your key ring. No surprise there as my girl has her initials key ring, a can of mace, four house keys and she'd put her .40 cal on there, if she could!
I told her to knock all that off..


The second thing is that the lack of awareness of what your car CAN do, even with engine off. It still steers but it's hard, you still have brakes but not power assist...I guess these fatals were caught out and did not have the skills to realize what was happening.

The one case, where the young girl complained to Chevrolet about her Cobalt and the dealer could not find the problem and gave the car back, well, that is tragic.

But any time you turn them lose in a car, it can happen.

When Amanda traded her Ferrari for the Sky, we had two days together driving it home.
I pointed out, "This car will kill you just as quickly, in an accident." (convertible vs. tube frame coupe)

Of course, Pontiac is gone, Saturn is gone, Chevys lack any imagination in design anymore.
Cadillac and trucks are pretty much GM, now, and the old folks and Chinese in the Buicks.
My mom drives a Buick. One more there!

 

GM is the leader when it comes to automotive innovation, but how many people know that? the public will remember this debacle.

 

I thought because of the chapter 11 the new GM emerges pretty much scot free, except for the tarnished reputation. Can those injured go after new GM or do they enter the pool of existing creditors under bankruptcy?