Back in the mid-'70s, one of the Japanese companies -- maybe Honda, maybe Toyota -- happened upon an ingenious way to test the quality of their cars. They would pull a car off the assembly line on a Friday and place a cat inside. (Oh, the halcyon days before public outrage at animal abuse.) On Monday, they would check the car. If the cat was dead, or close to death, that meant that no air had gotten in and that the weatherstripping had done its job. If the cat was alive, well, good for the cat, but the engineers had to try harder.
Some line workers at a GM plant had heard of this story, and thusly inspired, they tried it themselves. They found a stray cat and put it inside a Chevrolet or Oldsmobile or Pontiac at the end of the line after the last shift. They closed the door. They turned off the lights. They went home -- just like they'd heard the Japanese did. And "when they came back to work on Monday," said Lutz, "the cat [had] disappeared."
http://www.autoweek.com/article/20131126/CARNEWS01/131129880
Quality Control, as told by Bob Lutz
- Thread starter spackard
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The "new car Smell" toxic vinyl and PE outgassing dissolved the cat 
Don't American cars have better 4 cyl engines than Asian brands? (except for the Accord F series engines which seem pretty good).
Don't American cars have better 4 cyl engines than Asian brands? (except for the Accord F series engines which seem pretty good).Originally Posted By: ARCOgraphite
The "new car Smell" toxic vinyl and PE outgassing dissolved the cat
Don't American cars have better 4 cyl engines than Asian brands? (except for the Accord F series engines which seem pretty good).
Don't American cars have better 4 cyl engines than Asian brands? (except for the Accord F series engines which seem pretty good).
How does this story make any sense? Does that mean that if you sit in a high-quality car that is closed and not running, you should die of asphyxiation? Is that an advantage? Does the ventilation system seal up too?
My dad must have had one of the test vehicles, because that Toyota always smelled weird inside!
Originally Posted By: ARCOgraphite
The "new car Smell" toxic vinyl and PE outgassing dissolved the cat
That is awesome!!!
Originally Posted By: ARCOgraphite
Don't American cars have better 4 cyl engines than Asian brands? (except for the Accord F series engines which seem pretty good).
maybe.
In the '70s? No.
One can argue the merits of the Cosworth Vega but production models only made about as much hp as a smaller Toyota 2TG. 18RG outpowered it.
That leaves us with the Pontiac 151. Arguably a tractor engine. The Vega 2300. MPG is oil consumed. The Chevette motor which was designed by a lunatic. And finally the Lima OHC Ford. Durable but boring.
Chrysler and AMC didn't even play the 4 cyl game. If you had a 4 cyl AMC in the '70s, it was a Renault or VW motor.
Originally Posted By: spackard
Some line workers at a GM plant had heard of this story, and thusly inspired, they tried it themselves. They found a stray cat and put it inside a Chevrolet or Oldsmobile or Pontiac at the end of the line after the last shift. They closed the door. They turned off the lights. They went home -- just like they'd heard the Japanese did. And "when they came back to work on Monday," said Lutz, "the cat [had] disappeared."
Funny jokes, but nonsense at best.
You can test the air tightness much cheaper by going through a quick wash. Beside, a car is not suppose to be air tight at least in the ventilation.
Cars cannot be air tight. Imagine how much it would hurt your ears when you slammed the doors shut if they were air tight?
Ever notice the vents in the rear, often covered by the bumper cover? That's how flow through ventilation works.
Originally Posted By: GMBoy
That is a funny story, but it holds no water. All cars have flow thru ventilation so it's not possible to suffocate in a closed car.
Originally Posted By: GMBoy
That is a funny story, but it holds no water. All cars have flow thru ventilation so it's not possible to suffocate in a closed car.
Kestas
Staff member
Funny story. But if you truly want to test the air tightness of a car, put a pressure differential between the outside and inside, and measure how much air flow it takes to maintain the pressure differential, just like airplanes do when they're flying at 30,000 feet.
Dad once told me that during the 60s, VW advertised that their Beetle was so well sealed that if you drove it it water, it would float.
Originally Posted By: artificialist
Dad once told me that during the 60s, VW advertised that their Beetle was so well sealed that if you drove it it water, it would float.
My dad's F350 was super tight when new. If you didn't have the vent on, it would pop your ears shutting doors. Or going up and down steep hills you wouldn't notice a pressure difference until you got there!
Was strange.
Note that GM pickups for at least 10 years have two valves in the back of the cab to equalize air pressure.
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