GM's ignition recall issue explained.

Not an Apple fan, though GF bought me an iPad Air...it's okay...

Have had email since the 60's before most heard of email...
Ever heard of 'DARPA Net' ?

Hold over from the command line days and before there were word
processors and utilities with 'auto word wrap' that you seem to be
so dependent on...AKA trained to be the norm...

In those days, if you didn't it would run off the screen and/or
printer paper's edge

gmcsmoke wrote:

BenK wrote:

just out
of cur-
iosity

do you
surf th-
e web o-
n one

of the
se?


or do you purposely hit the enter button five times per sentence to make reading your posts annoyingly hard?

BenK wrote:

just out
of cur-
iosity

do you
surf th-
e web o-
n one

of the
se?


or do you purposely hit the enter button five times per sentence to make reading your posts annoyingly hard?

The book below should be required reading on this type of automotive forum....

Been calling them (Exec's) "Bean Counters" ever since presented to one of the
Big Three while still in college

We were 3rd contractor to the prime. Prime got a seed $50M to develop the
next gen factory because the Japanese were eating Detroit's lunch...

One of my business classes had just gone over some stuff and I though germain
to my first presentation (because those controls were my designs)

Under "issues and risks" touched on ROI being x years out...that factory Sr VP
leaned over to his #1 to ask "what is ROI"...astounded that an MBA didn't know

Should have let #1 answer, but I spoke up saying return on investment and dependent
on sales and profit per unit

He got up and walked out...turning to his #1 to: "Kill it"...

So cool that GM's new CEO is an engineer who worked up through the ranks...a real
car gal !

Amazon books:"Car Guys Vs. Bean Counters", The Battle for the Soul of American Business By Robert A. Lutz

travelnutz wrote:
The keys do not come out until the ignition switch is manually turned all the way off! It's mandated and has been for several decades now! The claim is that the ignition switch lost electrical contact.

Yes you are correct GM says
"General Motors is expanding the recall of certain 2003-2007 model year vehicles to correct a condition with the ignition switch that may allow the key to unintentionally move or switch to the “accessory” or “off” position, turning off the engine and most of the electrical components on the vehicle. "

Thought I had read in an other thread that the keys can fall out also.

ls1mike wrote:
Problem is no large corporation gives two craps about you after they get the check. I have always bought GM stuff because it is what I know and I am comfortable with it.
Not sure why they handled this one like this. No sure way any large company handles similar instances like this. Their mentality should be "What if my mom was driving this? What we would she do?"
I know my mom flips out over a burnt out light bulb.

The did the same thing Mike when they mounted the fuel tank on the outside of the frame rails in their pick ups. GM delivered a semi load of documents to a law office, thinking they would just give up and go away. Little did they know they sent them high sensitive memo's between the head Engineer and top GM managers telling them the truck were unsafe!

GM's "beancounters" even said in memo's that it would be cheaper to pay any suites then fix the trucks!

BTW the head Engineer said under oath that he would not allow anyone in his family to drive one of those trucks. But he sure did let other families drive them didn't he.

Don

The keys do not come out until the ignition switch is manually turned all the way off! It's mandated and has been for several decades now! The claim is that the ignition switch lost electrical contact.

.

jspence1 wrote:
How does an ignition switch kill people?

Well if the ignition switch gets turned off and the key/keys fall to the floor. Some people will panic and maybe take their eyes off the road trying to find the keys. They can then drift to the right or left and be involved in a crash.

With the ignition switch off none of the safety devices work. No air bags, no seat belt pretensioners, no power brakes and no power steering.

Do you see now how people have been killed?

Don

What would you do if accelerating on to a highway from a cross street and you ran out of gas and the engines stopped? OR if you were pulling on to a highway and your tranny etc broke or went into neutral and you lost power? OR What if a tire blewout while entering or crossing the highway?

Coast and pull off the traveled lanes instantly is the normal response! It's not as it your engine was accelerating and you couldn't quickly stop it. You lose power but not a runaway condition by any stretch. Unplanned things happen all the time and it's up to you as the driver to address the issue. The only one getting rich from a settlement is the lawyers! That said, no, the ignition switch shouldn't have caused the engine to stop and all the FACTS will come out going forward or in the courts.

jspence1 wrote:
How does an ignition switch kill people?

You took a risk and it turned out to be a mistake crossing all of those
six lanes....

In the middle of them your ignition switch decides to turn off the
engine...

Ditto...a highway on ramp where you decided to merge between two semi's...

It is NOT the switch itself, but what it does and when it does it...