John Oliver bit about GM recall

[Nickshu]

Very entertaining/funny, not to make light of a serious issue, but a good video...

I post this just for entertainment value, please don't PARF-ify this thread...

[fastfredracing]

Thanks for the laugh.

[GH85Carrera]

Some funny points.

I have heard several times how the GM CEO is a mother and cares about child safety. I wanted to ask them if all the fathers just don't care about their kids.

[1990C4S]

Your engine turning off causes a death? I don't get it.

Lack of driver education? Panic?

[Tobra]

I think losing power steering and brakes might be a bit of an issue for a diminutive driver of a heavy vehicle. I confess I am not familiar with exactly what the problem is, but there a number of things that could get you into trouble if your automatic transmission car turned itself off when you were on the freeway.

[Laneco]

The ignition shutting down means that no power steering, no power brakes, and at least with the models involved - the airbag and seat belt pre-tensioners do not work.

angela

[imcarthur]

A great piece. And a pretty searing condemnation of GM. I love the tagline at the end.



Ian

[Nickshu]

Originally Posted by Laneco

The ignition shutting down means that no power steering, no power brakes, and at least with the models involved - the airbag and seat belt pre-tensioners do not work.

angela

Most airbag systems have a capacitor that keeps power to the airbag system for 20-30 minutes after battery power is cut. Designed this way so that if one hit cuts the power then another car hits you then you can still get airbags to deploy. I believe this is probably a federal requirement. This is why if you read any shop repair manual for a car w/ airbags it tells you to disconnect the battery for 30-60 minutes before you do any hammering on the car.

The car would still steer and stop if you lost power steering, brakes etc. If the driver was not prepared for it, or had never driven a car that did not have power everything, or did not know that it would still work with a little more effort then an accident could definitely occur.

The question is...is this the fault of the carmaker for a mechanical/electrical failure or the fault of the driver for being unprepared/untrained for a mechanical failure that could always happen on any car at any time?

Generally I would side with the carmaker but in this case since GM obviously knew this was a problem for many years and did nothing I don't think they have a leg to stand on here.

[stealthn]

Watched CNN show on it last night sad all the way around. GM= 100% at fault, and yes the air bags did not deploy and were shut off. Sad that with the new CEO, all the responses to Congress were "that was the old GM"

There should be charges against all directors of the company IMHO

[wdfifteen]

Originally Posted by Nickshu

The question is...is this the fault of the carmaker for a mechanical/electrical failure or the fault of the driver for being unprepared/untrained for a mechanical failure that could always happen on any car at any time?

It is the fault of the carmaker for a mechanical/electrical failure. Yes, it can happen to any car at any time, but if the car maker know it happens to their cars and knows why and does nothing about it, it's their fault.

[rick-l]

No one has gone over this. If I interpreted the GM PR spin correctly the problem with the ignition switch is the inertia from a frontal collision caused the ignition switch to turn off before the inertial sensor deployed the airbags. Ignition off = airbags inactive.

I guess you could say it is the drivers fault for getting into a collision.

[dennis in se pa]

Several people should be in jail for this. A known defect is not as bad as a deliberate coverup and it taking YEARS to correct said defect. In effect....some people are directly responsible for the deaths of others. No getting around that.

[1990C4S]

Myth:

Originally Posted by Nickshu

Most airbag systems have a capacitor that keeps power to the airbag system for 20-30 minutes after battery power is cut. Designed this way so that if one hit cuts the power then another car hits you then you can still get airbags to deploy. I believe this is probably a federal requirement. This is why if you read any shop repair manual for a car w/ airbags it tells you to disconnect the battery for 30-60 minutes before you do any hammering on the car.

Fact:

Puzzled by these failures, federal safety regulators told Congress last month they believed the cars' air bags should have worked for up to 60 seconds after the engine stalled. But GM has since told The Associated Press that regulators were mistaken: the cars only had enough reserve power to sense a crash and deploy the air bags for 150 milliseconds after the switch malfunctioned and cut off the car's power.

GM says the air bags in newer cars would work for a slightly longer period of time if the ignition is off, but still less than a second.

The government may have believed there was a 60-second window because GM tells emergency personnel to wait for 60 to 120 seconds after disabling the power in a vehicle to make sure the air bags have deployed. But that is simply out of an abundance of caution, the automaker said.

[stealthn]

Originally Posted by rick-l

No one has gone over this. If I interpreted the GM PR spin correctly the problem with the ignition switch is the inertia from a frontal collision caused the ignition switch to turn off before the inertial sensor deployed the airbags. Ignition off = airbags inactive.

I guess you could say it is the drivers fault for getting into a collision.

No GM said it's because you have too many keys on your keychain, and you should only use the ignition key...

[intakexhaust]

GM is and always will be a recycled trash company. Even this resembles a trash can.




And what's more troublesome, GM repeated malicious executive decisions even after the last reorganization.

One more....
Maybe we should ask, who really owns GM? Should we sue ourselves? What will it do to your portfolio? Why bother, its all recycled trash?!

[Nickshu]

Originally Posted by 1990C4S

Myth:



Fact:

Puzzled by these failures, federal safety regulators told Congress last month they believed the cars' air bags should have worked for up to 60 seconds after the engine stalled. But GM has since told The Associated Press that regulators were mistaken: the cars only had enough reserve power to sense a crash and deploy the air bags for 150 milliseconds after the switch malfunctioned and cut off the car's power.

GM says the air bags in newer cars would work for a slightly longer period of time if the ignition is off, but still less than a second.

The government may have believed there was a 60-second window because GM tells emergency personnel to wait for 60 to 120 seconds after disabling the power in a vehicle to make sure the air bags have deployed. But that is simply out of an abundance of caution, the automaker said.

WOW!!