Forum Discussion
39 Replies
- You folks need to understand how corporate America works
Engineers do NOT have that level of authority
Not even middle managers
Only high level exec's have that kind of signature authority. They may assign
their signature authority to middle mangers, but then they are also accountable
for those assigned signatures
Signature authority is based on bottom line dollars affected/effected
This decision was worth hundreds of millions of bucks...so no middle
level manager has that kind of signature authority
Agree...these engineers are their goats... wintersun wrote:
The engineers were the fall guys. An executive made the decision not an engineer. No different than when Lee Iacocca while at Ford saw the cost to replace the Pinto gas cap that could cause a fuel fire in an accident and decided it was cheaper to pay off the lawsuits and did not make the change. Ford did not replace the defective fuel caps for a full 8 years. When Iacocca went over to Chrysler we saw his approach to car making with terrible K cars.
Iacocca stated "safety does not sell" as though that excused his criminal conduct. He should have gone to jail but the people at the top never do.
Small peanuts though compared to lying about WMD's and causing the needless deaths of tens of thousands of men, women, and children, all for the sake of US oil companies' profits.
Just a few facts for you.
One the gas cap was not the issue, the placement of the fuel tank was the cause of the fires.
http://users.wfu.edu/palmitar/Law&Valuation/Papers/1999/Leggett-pinto.html
"The controversy surrounding the Ford Pinto concerned the placement of the automobile's fuel tank. It was located behind the rear axle, instead of above it. This was initially done in an effort to create more trunk space. The problem with this design, which later became evident, was that it made the Pinto more vulnerable to a rear-end collision. This vulnerability was enhanced by other features of the car. The gas tank and the rear axle were separated by only nine inches. There were also bolts that were positioned in a manner that threatened the gas tank. Finally, the fuel filler pipe design resulted in a higher probability that it would to disconnect from the tank in the event of an accident than usual, causing gas spillage that could lead to dangerous fires. Because of these numerous design flaws, the Pinto became the center of public debate."
The highlighted part in the above text is the reason the Pinto's tank could rupture in a rear end collision. If hit hard enough the link bar bolt punches a hole in the tank. The fix was a plastic shield to protect the tank also the bolt was shortened and turned so the head faced the tank.
Don- They weren't fired; they weren't let go; they don't have to go searching for new jobs; they were just given an extra paid vacation, that doesn't accrue against their regular vacation time.
- The engineers were the fall guys. An executive made the decision not an engineer. No different than when Lee Iacocca while at Ford saw the cost to replace the Pinto gas cap that could cause a fuel fire in an accident and decided it was cheaper to pay off the lawsuits and did not make the change. Ford did not replace the defective fuel caps for a full 8 years. When Iacocca went over to Chrysler we saw his approach to car making with terrible K cars.
Iacocca stated "safety does not sell" as though that excused his criminal conduct. He should have gone to jail but the people at the top never do.
Small peanuts though compared to lying about WMD's and causing the needless deaths of tens of thousands of men, women, and children, all for the sake of US oil companies' profits. ib516 wrote:
lbrjet wrote:
How is an extra paid vacation considered a disciplinary action? They learned something from govt ownership I guess.
I agree this doesn't belong in tow vehicles, but got slammed by the GM fanboys yesterday for saying an article about Buick/Cadillac didn't belong here either.
I don't care what the GM fan boys think.
And, on the disciplinary action, I think getting your name splashed across the main stream media across the country would have an effect more detrimental than getting put on "paid vacation". After they've been publicly outsted as liars, cheats, and cover up artists, who would hire them/keep them on as an automotive engineer? Their careers should be over.
Guess they'll be forced to go into politics.- ^^^Agree^^^
Perrysburg Dodgeboy wrote:
So I'm assuming that the guy I quite has no common sense then.
Don
Nope, but then neither does this have anything to do with republican boogeymen that you spouted about either! Frankly I hope someone at the top of GM and everyone who went along with it is criminally prosecuted for this.- So I'm assuming that the guy I quite has no common sense then.
Don - Nobody with any common sense is blaming the UAW or the line workers. Top management screwed up and will pay the price. Line workers did nothing wrong. Take a deep breath. If anyone should be upset, it should be me since I own one of these cars and drive it every day.
