Maybe if companies focused more on superlative products rather than stakeholder shortsighted quotas, they might make products that appeal to more people. Most American companies are like this. Think only in terms of quarters. Not years.
Another Ford Recall
- Thread starter Passport1
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I just want to make sure I understand your logic here.
You think Ford actually made perfect cars that don't actually have problems, but for some reason, the very existence of the NHTSA makes them randomly recall their vehicles, even though nothing is wrong with the cars, costing them money for no reason?
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I agree problems exist. In the past what would have been fix as fail under warranty, or just not fixed at all and some % of customers have a problem. They now have to do recalls because of the risk of litigation costs.
So instead of 1% of customers affected by a real failure, 100% are affected by a recall and the majority of those people would never have a problem.
Start from the perspective that every mfg. is genuinely trying to make a good product. Now look at who is recalling vs who isn't. Can you view a recall as goodwill? Why aren't all companies having recalls? Are they actually better or just not proactively fixing things in a very public way?
I think, with the exception of emissions recalls, most recalls seem to be because "can cause fires" versus a goodwill thing.
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Probably liability. I don't think any of them want a fire on their hands, especially when parked inside a garage.
There are pretty much two types are recalls in the automotive business:
Recall Type 1 - Some part, faulty or bad design, causes excessive emissions, or can eventually cause excessive emissions.
This ALWAYS gets a recall, because the Manufacturer doesn't want to be fined for causing excessive emissions.
VW and Dodge are good examples of this, if you just look at diesel vehicles, and the nonsense both of those companies have pulled over the past 15 years.
Recall Type 2 - Some part, faulty or bad design, can lead to a situation where the occupant of the car can be exposed to physical harm under the wrong circumstances.
Let's start with the most obvious - fuel line part starts leaking because Tom Hampton on the Ford assembly line didn't check the calibration of the torque wrench at the beginning of his shifts for 3 months, and none of the fuel lines he "tightened" can be confirmed as actually tight during that period of time. So, a list of vehicles Tom worked on is put together, and a recall notice is sent to every single one of those owners, and they have to bring their vehicle in to have the fuel line checked. If they don't, there's a possibility that their vehicle may BURST INTO FLAMES AND KILL THEM.
Lets go with another type of recall, you might even heard of it.
An airbag manufacturer built their driver and passenger airbags with a chemical, that when combined with humidity, changes the metal can into a C4 powered shrapnel grenade. If the driver of that car gets into a car accident that requires the air bag to be deployed, that driver or passenger gets their hands, arms, chest, neck and face filled with hot rusty metal at high velocity. And, they might bleed out and die, or lose an eye. Not good.
Or, a third type of issue. Car company makes a suspension component with a bad mix of alloys, and the suspension component, when exposed to very cold, humid weather (snow), breaks, and now the driver is driving down the freeway at 75 mph with no control over their vehicle, and they crash into a church van with 16 occupants on board, punting them into oncoming traffic across the highway median, and are hit head on by an over-limit cement mixer traveling the other direction at 65 mph in the left lane. Do you want to be responsible for the deaths of 16 church goers? Does Ford? No.
Now, there are a third type of recall, informational recalls, where you see a manufacturer issue a change to the owners manual, or the tire pressure placard on the car. Some very important piece of information was released and it was wrong, and needs to be corrected, otherwise something bad may happen.
Alfa Romeo has one because there is a year of vehicles where they mixed up the front and rear tire pressures on a certain tire size, so all those vehicles are having new stickers installed on their cars. Can the tire pressures cause instant fiery death to the occupants of the car? Probably not, but the Ford Explorer Firestone tire fiasco is a thing that happened, so, hence a recall.
So, this recall is an emissions related recall.
Has to be done, or Ford gets fined for every vehicle produced that potentially can emit excessive emissions.
Just because you don't care, doesn't mean it's not a legitimate reason for a recall.
Otherwise, Ford certainly would not recall the vehicles.
Ford Pinto is a great example when Ford decided that their profits are more important than owner safety after they had a couple accountants tell them that it would be cheaper to be sued by Pinto owners who had their cars turn into BBQ grills if someone rear ended them, and damaged the car part that contains over 10 gallons of gasoline, and have it come in contact with hot exhaust parts. Pinto buyers typically didn't earn very much money, nor would be able to sue a huge company like Ford on an individual basis, so the accountants said "roll the dice" to the executive group, and they did. Came up snake eyes, eventually.
So there you go, my examples to help you understand recalls, why they happen, and what happens if they don't.
Update;
The ECU module recall reflash was done conveniently in my driveway by a mobile Ford tech. Very nice young man. We had a spirited disusion about Ford engineering, technology, design and company future. I believe his sentiments echoed lots of what the sage BITOG scribes here have said. Engineers should first have to fix cars then design them.
He advised the vehicle will have to relearn my (wife's) driving habits to adjust the transmission shifting points back.
The ECU module recall reflash was done conveniently in my driveway by a mobile Ford tech. Very nice young man. We had a spirited disusion about Ford engineering, technology, design and company future. I believe his sentiments echoed lots of what the sage BITOG scribes here have said. Engineers should first have to fix cars then design them.
He advised the vehicle will have to relearn my (wife's) driving habits to adjust the transmission shifting points back.
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