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Has GM passed the recent Toyota numbers? I would guess that they have both more recalls and more deaths than the Toyota UA problem. There was a lot of harping on Toyota when that happened. Seems that the problems are even more pervasive at GM. That being said, I'm glad Mary is cleaning things up. This can only be good in the long run. This is the sort of blitz that can help change a corporate culture.
It's difficult to change a culture that successfully existed for a century.
GM may have learned a lesson, but change won't happen immediately.
The trick for GM is to avoid unrealistic expectations. It could take a decade. It might even take a generation. Dramatic change will not happen overnight.
Cadillac has been on a slow turnaround for a decade. Sales were up 22% in 2013, but have fallen 2% this year through May. Sales of the ATS compact sedan slowed considerably.
Millions of GM cars shared switch defect, e-mail shows
The hearing overall was much lower-key, less hostile than Barra's April 1 appearance before the same House Energy and Commerce Committee's Oversight and Investigations subcommittee. But it had sensational moments.
The document — a printed version of an e-mail string involving several GM engineers — shows that in addition to the 2.19 million small cars with switch problems recalled in February and March, millions more larger models have entirely different switches that, nonetheless, could have similar problems.
And the small-car switches and the bigger-car switches both were approved by the same GM switch engineer, the now-fired Ray DeGiorgio.
@circlew said:
Porsche is tops, Hyundai up in Power quality study
OW, I think you missed the most important part of the article:
Porsche 74
Jaguar 87
Lexus 92
Hyundai 94
Jag #2! Hail, Britania! My XF? I'm feeling alright...
'21 Dark Blue/Black Audi A7 PHEV (mine); '22 White/Beige BMW X3 (hers); '20 Estoril Blue/Oyster BMW M240xi 'Vert (Ours, read: hers in 'vert weather; mine during Nor'easters...)
Segment Award Recipients
Malibu – Midsize Car
Silverado HD – Large Heavy-Duty Pickup
Suburban – Large SUV (tie)
Segment Top Three
Camaro – Ranked Second – Midsize Sporty Car
Equinox – Ranked Second – Compact CUV
Tahoe – Ranked Second – Large SUV
Cadillac
Escalade – Ranked Second - Large Premium CUV
Buick
Encore – Segment Award Recipient – Small SUV (tie)
GMC
Terrain – Segment Award Recipient – Compact SUV
Yukon – Segment Award Recipient – Large SUV (tie)
Sierra HD – Ranked Second – Large Heavy-Duty Pickup
The money may flow to India, but the cars are still built in Coventry (right?). Their heart and soul remain veddy, veddy British. May it forever be so.
Otherwise, I'll buy an Audi, BMW or Mercedes...Not that there's anything wrong with that.
'21 Dark Blue/Black Audi A7 PHEV (mine); '22 White/Beige BMW X3 (hers); '20 Estoril Blue/Oyster BMW M240xi 'Vert (Ours, read: hers in 'vert weather; mine during Nor'easters...)
The money may flow to India, but the cars are still built in Coventry (right?). Their heart and soul remain veddy, veddy British. May it forever be so.
Right. I realized I was wrong because India is tied closely to Britain.
Who knows for how long though. I just read the other day that Volvo and its new ownership are going to start building and importing some models from China. I'm thinking "oh great" we can look forward to possible substandard parts, dangerous product substitution in the builds and maybe planted spyware or other bad news in your electronics. Just what I'd want to pay premium money for! Safety and security tells me to steer away from anything Chinese if possible.
This is an example of that GM "DNA" that some of us have been worried about. Just like Toyota's problems - need to eradicate this sort of management behavior:
"As many as 1.25 million Chrysler minivans, Dodge crossovers and Jeep SUVs may have faulty ignition switches that can shut the cars off while driving.
Given the problems General Motors has been facing with ignition switches and keys, the NHTSA said it decided to act after receiving a report from Chrysler detailing that its airbag system would deactivate if the key were to slip into the accessory position."
DETROIT — While General Motors was under fire in Washington at a House hearing over its failure to recall defective cars, the automaker received some welcome news at home on Wednesday with a strong showing in the annual J.D. Power quality survey of new vehicles.
G.M. ranked third among major automakers, behind Hyundai Group and Toyota. Although it fell from the top ranking that it held last year, the company won the most category awards, bolstered by its strong performance in trucks and sport utility vehicles.
“GM’s egregious and widely publicized conduct and the never-ending and piecemeal nature of GM’s recalls has so tarnished the affected vehicles that no reasonable consumer would have paid the price they did when the GM brand meant safety and success,” the complaint said.
I'm looking for the dependability data for the 3-year ownership by JDP.
Here is shows all 4 of GM's brands in the top half of the chart--above the averge.
I notice Hyunda and Kia are below, WAY below average.
That sounds like a rather weak argument given that the company already went bankrupt. You'd think that would have already discouraged the discourageable.
@circlew said:
General Motors Is Getting Sued For $10 Billion—Yes, $10 Billion
“GM’s egregious and widely publicized conduct and the never-ending and piecemeal nature of GM’s recalls has so tarnished the affected vehicles that no reasonable consumer would have paid the price they did when the GM brand meant safety and success,” the complaint said.
In response to questions from Bloomberg Businessweek, GM issued a statement on June 17: “We are going to reexamine Mr. Kelley’s employment claims as well as the safety concerns that he has, and that’s part of our redoubled effort to ensure customer safety.”
In response to questions from Bloomberg Businessweek, GM issued a statement on June 17: “We are going to reexamine Mr. Kelley’s employment claims as well as the safety concerns that he has, and that’s part of our redoubled effort to ensure customer safety.”
Does this surprise you? I mean, isn't the bottom line for any employee in a major corporation to "save the organism", regardless of your own personal moral opinions?
I mean, to put it another way, it sort of answers the question "how can good people do bad things?"
Last week Seattle-based consumer rights law firm, Hagens Berman Sobol Shapiro, filed a class-action lawsuit against General Motors seeking damages of as much as $10 billion for the for loss of resale value of customer’s cars. The law firm argues owners of certain GM products, such as the Chevrolet Cobalt and Camaro, will get back less money for trade-ins due to the recall of the cars and the automaker should compensate them for that. #But as The Detroit Bureau points out, the lawsuit is unlikely to stand in court as it is based on questionable data and emotional appeal.
What did she know and when did she know it? RIP Howard Baker.
"The newly-disclosed internal GM documents show that Doug Parks, now GM's vice president of product programs and a top lieutenant of Chief Executive Mary Barra, knew first hand in May 2005 of problems with ignition switches used in the Chevrolet Cobalt problem and offered one potential solution: Change the head of the key to a small hole instead of a larger slot, reducing the chance of shifting weight turning the ignition switch while a vehicle was in operation."
"When the earth opened under the National Corvette Museum in early February, creating a 60-foot-deep sinkhole that devoured eight landmark Corvettes, museum officials, Bowling Green residents, and ’Vette lovers everywhere reacted in stunned disbelief.
Since then something unexpected has happened: The sinkhole became the museum’s hot new tourist magnet. Droves of travelers who might otherwise have had little interest in the museum and its four-wheeled exhibits began showing up to see the site of the natural disaster they had heard about on the news."
Safety groups urge FTC to halt CarMax advertising over unrepaired recalled vehicles
At issue in the FTC petition is the company’s advertising as “CarMax Quality Certified” with a rigorous “125+ point inspection.” The four-page petition calls it “inherently deceptive” to tell customers that vehicles have passed a rigorous safety inspection, “while failing to take even the most basic step of checking the vehicle’s safety recall status.”
The FTC petition says: “There is absolutely no excuse for CarMax or other auto dealers not to ensure that the used vehicles they sell to consumers are not ticking time-bomb cars with unrepaired safety recalls.”
“Car dealers shouldn’t sell used cars that have a safety recall to consumers, period. Far too many times we have seen the tragic and often fatal consequences when deficient cars are allowed on the road, and it’s time for the FTC to do everything it can to put a stop to it,” Schumer said.
GM adds 8.23 million cars to ignition-switch recall (29 Million and counting...)
DETROIT, June 30 (Reuters) - General Motors Co on Monday widened the list of older models it is recalling for potentially deadly ignition switches, adding 8.23 million compact and midsize sedans that it has linked to seven crashes and three fatalities.
GM did not say how it would fix the latest batch of switches, but as with earlier cases it urged owners to remove all items, including the fob, from key rings, leaving only the ignition key.
GM said the switch could be turned off because of "inadvertent key rotation." In turn, that could shut off the engine and cut power to steering, brakes and air bags.
I think GM has blown Toyota out of the water in this category.
Still warranted, and good that Mary is doing this. It will help GM in the long run.
Seems that many of the GM critics were correct in wanting GM to own up with their problems and start changing the culture. It's nice to see this finally happening.
@tlong said:
I think GM has blown Toyota out of the water in this category.
Still warranted, and good that Mary is doing this. It will help GM in the long run.
Seems that many of the GM critics were correct in wanting GM to own up with their problems and start changing the culture. It's nice to see this finally happening.
Seems that GM is recalling so many cars that it's eventually going to run out of its own models and start recalling other brands...
Seriously, though, one has to wonder when this never-ending story will conclude...
Well. if the past management ran their finances and product planning like they seem to have monitored quality and engineering, it's a wonder they didn't BK earlier. Good grief, what is it with auto companies and their engineering and purchasing functions??? I really do feel that the current leadership is trying to clean up and change the mindset there. Remember, not long ago the Toyoda family had to step back in to clean up an MBA CEO created mess at Toyota.
@busiris said:
Seriously, though, one has to wonder when this never-ending story will conclude...
The economy is relatively strong right now, Mary is new and nobody is going to blame her. GM is doing ok financially right now as well. So there's really no better time to do this, and it also sends a message both to the workers inside as well as the public that GM is changing. All good.
There was reason to criticize GM. The new CEO was one as well.
The scope of the recall brings to mind an offhand discussion that took place in the cult classic Fight Club between Edward Norton's narrator character and a stranger he meets on an airplane:
Narrator: A new car built by my company leaves somewhere traveling at 60 miles per hour. The rear differential locks up. The car crashes and burns with everyone trapped inside. Now, should we initiate a recall? Take the number of vehicles in the field, A, multiply by the probable rate of failure, B, multiply by the average out-of-court settlement, C. A times B times C equals X. If X is less than the cost of a recall, we don't do one.
Stranger: Are there a lot of these kinds of accidents?
Narrator: You wouldn't believe.
I know that Volkswagen overall is a very profitable company, I just wonder how long they're going to allow their USA sales to keep falling off a cliff.
Don't be so sure about culture change at GM--history shows us that inbred cultures, whether corporate or military, are very slow to produce significant changes. They DO but it takes a long time. All the old school in power has to die off or be retired without training the newbies in the same old culture.
@henryn said:
I know that Volkswagen overall is a very profitable company, I just wonder how long they're going to allow their USA sales to keep falling off a cliff.
As I recall 2-3 years ago VW North America said they wanted to grow rapidly, and VW corporate Europe wanted to become the world's largest automaker. The NA VW group came out with redesigned VWs for the NA market, larger and less premium. I posted at the time "Why would anybody want a big soft decontented VW with German reliablity and repair pricing?". I think my statement has been borne out. VW has never been reliable or cheap but they sold fairly well because they were really fun to drive and had gorgeous interiors. I recently rented a recent Jetta and was totally underwhelmed as compared to 8 or 10 or 15 years ago.
Strong sales and continued domestic-parts sourcing kept the Ford F-150 and Toyota Camry in the top two spots in Cars.com's 2014 American-Made Index, but the order below that has changed. GM's Michigan-built three-row crossovers (the Buick Enclave, Chevrolet Traverse and GMC Acadia) had taken at least one spot for the last three consecutive years, but their domestic-parts content fell below 75 percent in 2014. The Dodge Avenger sedan, meanwhile, placed third last year but faces immediate discontinuation without a clear successor and is disqualified.
The 2014 list has four newcomers: the Chevrolet Corvette, Honda Ridgeline, Honda Crosstour and Dodge SRT Viper. This is the first year any of those have made the list
Audi, Jag, Kia and Tesla top Strategic Vision 2014 Total Quality Index
In a surprise win, Kia took the title for mainstream manufacturers, with Strategic Vision calling out the Soul and the Optima for their "youthful, cool styling cues that not only make a strong statement but offer a solid foundation of quality." The South Korean brand took seventh in the JD Power IQS.
@circlew said:
Audi, Jag, Kia and Tesla top Strategic Vision 2014 Total Quality Index
As a Jag owner and fan, let me just say, woo hoo!
'21 Dark Blue/Black Audi A7 PHEV (mine); '22 White/Beige BMW X3 (hers); '20 Estoril Blue/Oyster BMW M240xi 'Vert (Ours, read: hers in 'vert weather; mine during Nor'easters...)
GM’s Rusting Brake Lines Don’t Make Cut in Record Recalls
“They seem to be doing a lot of recalls, but on closer investigation, you find they’re more hesitant to do the recalls that cost more money,” said Mark Modica, an associate fellow with the National Legal and Policy Center, who was a onetime GM bondholder and a former manager at a Saturn dealership in Pennsylvania. “GM’s response has been quite callous.”
“3D printing is exploding,” said James Earle, the engineer who’s printing the car at Oak Ridge for Local Motors of Phoenix. “It’s like the computer revolution of the ’80s. We have no idea what we’ll be able to do with the technology next.”
“We’re working to figure out how to make 3D printing feasible for manufacturing,” researcher Brian Post said as he showed me around the lab, where lasers, electron beams and more are producing everything from the car to carbon fiber chairs and prosthetic limbs for injured veterans. “It’s an order of magnitude lower in cost than traditional manufacturing.”
How Much Will General Motors' Recall Disaster Cost?
The Wall Street Journal recently conducted an extensive review of U.S. government accident data, and reported that "309 drivers and passengers were killed in accidents in which an air bag didn't deploy in a GM model that is now subject to the ignition-switch recalls." There were also another 228 people injured, according to the Journal.
So what did we get? $2.5 billion in known charges related to the direct costs of the recalls. Another potential $1.2 billion or more in fines. And a settlement fund that could end up costing $2 billion.
Call it $6 billion, give or take. It's a huge bill, roughly three good quarters' worth of pre-tax profits for GM. And of course it could be significantly bigger once all is said and done.
Let me start this comment by saying that I am glad Mary Barra is in charge of GM and I think she (so far) appears to be doing a great job in a tough situation. And I want GM to succeed.
However, here's an article from the NY Times that describes how GM deliberately hid information that might make them responsible for damages from numerous deaths - when GM purportedly knew the cause and felt it was better to protect their pocketbooks than to be honest, or legal:
IMHO if true, this is particularly shameful and shows how GM was, as many of us suspected, - a large, slow moving, inefficient and corrupt behemoth that made mediocre vehicles (and much worse, too).
Given the flak on these boards that Toyota faced over unintended acceleration (in which they also had shameful behavior), this situation seems quite a bit worse. Was there ever any real flaw found in the Toyotas other than low accelerator pedals that might engage floor mats?
I wonder if some of the key posters (including one who has recently been absent) who were always cheerleading for GM will show up to say at least as negative things about GM as they did about Toyota?
It's fine to trumpet patriotism and locally-made or run companies, but why should we cheerlead for corrupt US companies who let Americans die so that they can protect their corporate pocketbooks? To hell with what country the management is from.
It's a corporation and until there are actual criminal penalties (or corporate "death penalties") enforced for this kind of behavior, it will continue to boil down to a cost benefit analysis. Nothing different from what happened with the Pinto, or Firestone tires or the sudden unintended acceleration mess at Toyota.
The last paragraph at the end of your link is pretty depressing too - I've been discouraged to read just how lame the NHTSA is.
Warranty Week just did their annual comparison of warranty costs of most of the major manufacturers (many, unfortunately don't report warranty data in their public reports). Lots of interesting tidbits in the data (plenty of room for interpretation too, but it's interesting to try to spot the trends). The theory is that the amount of accrual money set aside for warranty reflects how reliable the manufacturer thinks their cars are.
"In terms of U.S. dollars set aside per vehicle sold, the American manufacturers have taken leadership away from the Japanese in recent years.
Both GM and Ford [came] in lower than Toyota, Fiat, or Honda last year.
Looking strictly at the trend lines, Daimler and BMW, along with GM and Ford, have more or less consistently reduced their warranty costs as a percentage of sales since 2002. They're the cost-cutters. Meanwhile, VW, PSA and Honda have remained about the same over the past 12 years, and Fiat and Toyota are recovering from warranty costs that were rising until recently."
Had some posts stuck over in the closed The Current State of the US Auto Market discussion (just can't get that one out of my head). You'll have to scroll back a bit to see my pithy links from earlier this month. (Thanks for noticing @Imidazol97!)
Comments
Has GM passed the recent Toyota numbers? I would guess that they have both more recalls and more deaths than the Toyota UA problem. There was a lot of harping on Toyota when that happened. Seems that the problems are even more pervasive at GM. That being said, I'm glad Mary is cleaning things up. This can only be good in the long run. This is the sort of blitz that can help change a corporate culture.
Changing GM will take time
It's difficult to change a culture that successfully existed for a century.
GM may have learned a lesson, but change won't happen immediately.
The trick for GM is to avoid unrealistic expectations. It could take a decade. It might even take a generation. Dramatic change will not happen overnight.
http://www.autonews.com/article/20140616/OEM/306169958
>
I'm thinking it's an all-time record for recalls in a single year...
It's a lot, any way you look at it, but some vehicles fall under multiple recalls, so it's difficult to count actual vehicle totals for comparison...
Porsche is tops, Hyundai up in Power quality study
http://www.usatoday.com/story/money/cars/2014/06/18/jd-power-initial-quality-porsche/10752279/
Key Cadillac sales exec resigns
Cadillac has been on a slow turnaround for a decade. Sales were up 22% in 2013, but have fallen 2% this year through May. Sales of the ATS compact sedan slowed considerably.
http://www.usatoday.com/story/money/cars/2014/06/18/key-cadillac-sales-exec-resigns/10826309/
Millions of GM cars shared switch defect, e-mail shows
The hearing overall was much lower-key, less hostile than Barra's April 1 appearance before the same House Energy and Commerce Committee's Oversight and Investigations subcommittee. But it had sensational moments.
The document — a printed version of an e-mail string involving several GM engineers — shows that in addition to the 2.19 million small cars with switch problems recalled in February and March, millions more larger models have entirely different switches that, nonetheless, could have similar problems.
And the small-car switches and the bigger-car switches both were approved by the same GM switch engineer, the now-fired Ray DeGiorgio.
http://www.usatoday.com/story/money/cars/2014/06/18/gm-switch-recall-email-impala/10804911/
JD Powers Award to Malibu for midsize car. I love my Malibu and this supports my choice even more!
2014 Malibu 2LT, 2015 Cruze 2LT,
OW, I think you missed the most important part of the article:
Porsche 74
Jaguar 87
Lexus 92
Hyundai 94
Jag #2! Hail, Britania! My XF? I'm feeling alright...
'21 Dark Blue/Black Audi A7 PHEV (mine); '22 White/Beige BMW X3 (hers); '20 Estoril Blue/Oyster BMW M240xi 'Vert (Ours, read: hers in 'vert weather; mine during Nor'easters...)
Keep on keepin' on, LD!
next
11 finishes in top 3 in JD Power.
Segment Award Recipients Malibu – Midsize Car Silverado HD – Large Heavy-Duty Pickup Suburban – Large SUV (tie) Segment Top Three Camaro – Ranked Second – Midsize Sporty Car Equinox – Ranked Second – Compact CUV Tahoe – Ranked Second – Large SUV2014 Malibu 2LT, 2015 Cruze 2LT,
The money may flow to India, but the cars are still built in Coventry (right?). Their heart and soul remain veddy, veddy British. May it forever be so.
Otherwise, I'll buy an Audi, BMW or Mercedes...Not that there's anything wrong with that.
'21 Dark Blue/Black Audi A7 PHEV (mine); '22 White/Beige BMW X3 (hers); '20 Estoril Blue/Oyster BMW M240xi 'Vert (Ours, read: hers in 'vert weather; mine during Nor'easters...)
The money may flow to India, but the cars are still built in Coventry (right?). Their heart and soul remain veddy, veddy British. May it forever be so.
Right. I realized I was wrong because India is tied closely to Britain.
2014 Malibu 2LT, 2015 Cruze 2LT,
Who knows for how long though. I just read the other day that Volvo and its new ownership are going to start building and importing some models from China. I'm thinking "oh great" we can look forward to possible substandard parts, dangerous product substitution in the builds and maybe planted spyware or other bad news in your electronics. Just what I'd want to pay premium money for! Safety and security tells me to steer away from anything Chinese if possible.
This is an example of that GM "DNA" that some of us have been worried about. Just like Toyota's problems - need to eradicate this sort of management behavior:
GM Recalls: How GM Silenced a Whistleblower
http://businessweek.com/articles/2014-06-18/gm-recalls-whistle-blower-was-ignored-mary-barra-faces-congress#r=rss
Substandard parts? You mean like faulty ignition parts in millions of cars?
Chevy Malibu most recalled of GM cars this year, not Cobalt
http://www.autoblog.com/2014/05/24/chevy-malibu-most-recalled-gm-car/
"As many as 1.25 million Chrysler minivans, Dodge crossovers and Jeep SUVs may have faulty ignition switches that can shut the cars off while driving.
Given the problems General Motors has been facing with ignition switches and keys, the NHTSA said it decided to act after receiving a report from Chrysler detailing that its airbag system would deactivate if the key were to slip into the accessory position."
Chrysler under investigation for faulty ignition switches (MSN)
DETROIT — While General Motors was under fire in Washington at a House hearing over its failure to recall defective cars, the automaker received some welcome news at home on Wednesday with a strong showing in the annual J.D. Power quality survey of new vehicles.
G.M. ranked third among major automakers, behind Hyundai Group and Toyota. Although it fell from the top ranking that it held last year, the company won the most category awards, bolstered by its strong performance in trucks and sport utility vehicles.
http://www.nytimes.com/2014/06/19/business/general-motors-receives-welcome-news-in-automotive-survey.html?_r=0
General Motors Is Getting Sued For $10 Billion—Yes, $10 Billion
http://time.com/2895029/general-motors-is-getting-sued-for-10-billion-yes-10-billion/
“GM’s egregious and widely publicized conduct and the never-ending and piecemeal nature of GM’s recalls has so tarnished the affected vehicles that no reasonable consumer would have paid the price they did when the GM brand meant safety and success,” the complaint said.
I'm looking for the dependability data for the 3-year ownership by JDP.
Here is shows all 4 of GM's brands in the top half of the chart--above the averge.
I notice Hyunda and Kia are below, WAY below average.
2014 Malibu 2LT, 2015 Cruze 2LT,
That sounds like a rather weak argument given that the company already went bankrupt. You'd think that would have already discouraged the discourageable.
GM Recalls: How General Motors Silenced a Whistle-Blower
http://www.businessweek.com/articles/2014-06-18/gm-recalls-whistle-blower-was-ignored-mary-barra-faces-congress
In response to questions from Bloomberg Businessweek, GM issued a statement on June 17: “We are going to reexamine Mr. Kelley’s employment claims as well as the safety concerns that he has, and that’s part of our redoubled effort to ensure customer safety.”
I posted that on June 20!
Does this surprise you? I mean, isn't the bottom line for any employee in a major corporation to "save the organism", regardless of your own personal moral opinions?
I mean, to put it another way, it sort of answers the question "how can good people do bad things?"
This post is interesting-- the assessment by the Detroit Bureau
http://www.thedetroitbureau.com/2014/06/data-doesnt-back-10-bil-gm-class-action-lawsuit/
Last week Seattle-based consumer rights law firm, Hagens Berman Sobol Shapiro, filed a class-action lawsuit against General Motors seeking damages of as much as $10 billion for the for loss of resale value of customer’s cars. The law firm argues owners of certain GM products, such as the Chevrolet Cobalt and Camaro, will get back less money for trade-ins due to the recall of the cars and the automaker should compensate them for that. #But as The Detroit Bureau points out, the lawsuit is unlikely to stand in court as it is based on questionable data and emotional appeal.
2014 Malibu 2LT, 2015 Cruze 2LT,
Airbag recall widens to include BMW, Chrysler, Ford and Toyota
http://www.autoblog.com/2014/06/23/airbag-recall-widens-include-bmw-chrysler-ford-and-toyota/
What did she know and when did she know it? RIP Howard Baker.
"The newly-disclosed internal GM documents show that Doug Parks, now GM's vice president of product programs and a top lieutenant of Chief Executive Mary Barra, knew first hand in May 2005 of problems with ignition switches used in the Chevrolet Cobalt problem and offered one potential solution: Change the head of the key to a small hole instead of a larger slot, reducing the chance of shifting weight turning the ignition switch while a vehicle was in operation."
GM Documents Show Senior Executive Had Role in Switch (Wall St. Journal registration link).
"When the earth opened under the National Corvette Museum in early February, creating a 60-foot-deep sinkhole that devoured eight landmark Corvettes, museum officials, Bowling Green residents, and ’Vette lovers everywhere reacted in stunned disbelief.
Since then something unexpected has happened: The sinkhole became the museum’s hot new tourist magnet. Droves of travelers who might otherwise have had little interest in the museum and its four-wheeled exhibits began showing up to see the site of the natural disaster they had heard about on the news."
After Gobbling Up Corvettes at Museum, Sinkhole Becomes a Star (New York Times)
Safety groups urge FTC to halt CarMax advertising over unrepaired recalled vehicles
At issue in the FTC petition is the company’s advertising as “CarMax Quality Certified” with a rigorous “125+ point inspection.” The four-page petition calls it “inherently deceptive” to tell customers that vehicles have passed a rigorous safety inspection, “while failing to take even the most basic step of checking the vehicle’s safety recall status.”
The FTC petition says: “There is absolutely no excuse for CarMax or other auto dealers not to ensure that the used vehicles they sell to consumers are not ticking time-bomb cars with unrepaired safety recalls.”
“Car dealers shouldn’t sell used cars that have a safety recall to consumers, period. Far too many times we have seen the tragic and often fatal consequences when deficient cars are allowed on the road, and it’s time for the FTC to do everything it can to put a stop to it,” Schumer said.
http://www.detroitnews.com/article/20140624/AUTO01/306240108/1148
GM adds 8.23 million cars to ignition-switch recall (29 Million and counting...)
DETROIT, June 30 (Reuters) - General Motors Co on Monday widened the list of older models it is recalling for potentially deadly ignition switches, adding 8.23 million compact and midsize sedans that it has linked to seven crashes and three fatalities.
GM did not say how it would fix the latest batch of switches, but as with earlier cases it urged owners to remove all items, including the fob, from key rings, leaving only the ignition key.
GM said the switch could be turned off because of "inadvertent key rotation." In turn, that could shut off the engine and cut power to steering, brakes and air bags.
http://finance.yahoo.com/news/gm-adds-8-45-million-191524965.html
I think GM has blown Toyota out of the water in this category.
Still warranted, and good that Mary is doing this. It will help GM in the long run.
Seems that many of the GM critics were correct in wanting GM to own up with their problems and start changing the culture. It's nice to see this finally happening.
Seems that GM is recalling so many cars that it's eventually going to run out of its own models and start recalling other brands...
Seriously, though, one has to wonder when this never-ending story will conclude...
Well. if the past management ran their finances and product planning like they seem to have monitored quality and engineering, it's a wonder they didn't BK earlier. Good grief, what is it with auto companies and their engineering and purchasing functions??? I really do feel that the current leadership is trying to clean up and change the mindset there. Remember, not long ago the Toyoda family had to step back in to clean up an MBA CEO created mess at Toyota.
The economy is relatively strong right now, Mary is new and nobody is going to blame her. GM is doing ok financially right now as well. So there's really no better time to do this, and it also sends a message both to the workers inside as well as the public that GM is changing. All good.
There was reason to criticize GM. The new CEO was one as well.
The scope of the recall brings to mind an offhand discussion that took place in the cult classic Fight Club between Edward Norton's narrator character and a stranger he meets on an airplane:
"Chrysler’s sales rose 9% in June, General Motors’s edged up 1%, Ford’s fell 6% and Volkswagen’s plummeted 22%.
Industry sales are expected to decline from June 2013 because dealers were open two fewer days than they were during the year-earlier month."
GM sales up 1%, Chrysler 9%, Ford down 6% in June (Detroit Free Press)
I know that Volkswagen overall is a very profitable company, I just wonder how long they're going to allow their USA sales to keep falling off a cliff.
Don't be so sure about culture change at GM--history shows us that inbred cultures, whether corporate or military, are very slow to produce significant changes. They DO but it takes a long time. All the old school in power has to die off or be retired without training the newbies in the same old culture.
As I recall 2-3 years ago VW North America said they wanted to grow rapidly, and VW corporate Europe wanted to become the world's largest automaker. The NA VW group came out with redesigned VWs for the NA market, larger and less premium. I posted at the time "Why would anybody want a big soft decontented VW with German reliablity and repair pricing?". I think my statement has been borne out. VW has never been reliable or cheap but they sold fairly well because they were really fun to drive and had gorgeous interiors. I recently rented a recent Jetta and was totally underwhelmed as compared to 8 or 10 or 15 years ago.
American-made cars: A dwindling list
http://www.usatoday.com/story/money/cars/2014/07/03/american-made-index/12165511/
http://www.cars.com/go/advice/Story.jsp?section=top&subject=ami&story=amMade0614&referer=advice&aff=national
Audi, Jag, Kia and Tesla top Strategic Vision 2014 Total Quality Index
In a surprise win, Kia took the title for mainstream manufacturers, with Strategic Vision calling out the Soul and the Optima for their "youthful, cool styling cues that not only make a strong statement but offer a solid foundation of quality." The South Korean brand took seventh in the JD Power IQS.
http://www.autoblog.com/2014/07/06/audi-jag-kia-tesla-strategic-vision-2014-total-quality/
As a Jag owner and fan, let me just say, woo hoo!
'21 Dark Blue/Black Audi A7 PHEV (mine); '22 White/Beige BMW X3 (hers); '20 Estoril Blue/Oyster BMW M240xi 'Vert (Ours, read: hers in 'vert weather; mine during Nor'easters...)
GM’s Rusting Brake Lines Don’t Make Cut in Record Recalls
http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2014-07-07/gm-s-rusting-brake-lines-don-t-make-cut-in-record-recalls.html
“3D printing is exploding,” said James Earle, the engineer who’s printing the car at Oak Ridge for Local Motors of Phoenix. “It’s like the computer revolution of the ’80s. We have no idea what we’ll be able to do with the technology next.”
“We’re working to figure out how to make 3D printing feasible for manufacturing,” researcher Brian Post said as he showed me around the lab, where lasers, electron beams and more are producing everything from the car to carbon fiber chairs and prosthetic limbs for injured veterans. “It’s an order of magnitude lower in cost than traditional manufacturing.”
Mark Phelan: 3D printer carves out a new path to making cars (Detroit News)
How Much Will General Motors' Recall Disaster Cost?
http://www.fool.com/investing/general/2014/07/14/how-much-will-general-motors-recall-disaster-cost.aspx
Let me start this comment by saying that I am glad Mary Barra is in charge of GM and I think she (so far) appears to be doing a great job in a tough situation. And I want GM to succeed.
However, here's an article from the NY Times that describes how GM deliberately hid information that might make them responsible for damages from numerous deaths - when GM purportedly knew the cause and felt it was better to protect their pocketbooks than to be honest, or legal:
http://nytimes.com/2014/07/16/business/documents-show-general-motors-kept-silent-on-fatal-crashes.html
IMHO if true, this is particularly shameful and shows how GM was, as many of us suspected, - a large, slow moving, inefficient and corrupt behemoth that made mediocre vehicles (and much worse, too).
Given the flak on these boards that Toyota faced over unintended acceleration (in which they also had shameful behavior), this situation seems quite a bit worse. Was there ever any real flaw found in the Toyotas other than low accelerator pedals that might engage floor mats?
I wonder if some of the key posters (including one who has recently been absent) who were always cheerleading for GM will show up to say at least as negative things about GM as they did about Toyota?
It's fine to trumpet patriotism and locally-made or run companies, but why should we cheerlead for corrupt US companies who let Americans die so that they can protect their corporate pocketbooks? To hell with what country the management is from.
It's a corporation and until there are actual criminal penalties (or corporate "death penalties") enforced for this kind of behavior, it will continue to boil down to a cost benefit analysis. Nothing different from what happened with the Pinto, or Firestone tires or the sudden unintended acceleration mess at Toyota.
The last paragraph at the end of your link is pretty depressing too - I've been discouraged to read just how lame the NHTSA is.
Warranty Week just did their annual comparison of warranty costs of most of the major manufacturers (many, unfortunately don't report warranty data in their public reports). Lots of interesting tidbits in the data (plenty of room for interpretation too, but it's interesting to try to spot the trends). The theory is that the amount of accrual money set aside for warranty reflects how reliable the manufacturer thinks their cars are.
"In terms of U.S. dollars set aside per vehicle sold, the American manufacturers have taken leadership away from the Japanese in recent years.
Both GM and Ford [came] in lower than Toyota, Fiat, or Honda last year.
Looking strictly at the trend lines, Daimler and BMW, along with GM and Ford, have more or less consistently reduced their warranty costs as a percentage of sales since 2002. They're the cost-cutters. Meanwhile, VW, PSA and Honda have remained about the same over the past 12 years, and Fiat and Toyota are recovering from warranty costs that were rising until recently."