GM recall worry some?

[RollaMo]

Originally Posted by Chevy_cowboy

What I don't understand is how that results in fatal crashes, IMO knowing how to safely control a car that dies at highway speed should be part of learning to drive, either reach down and restart it, or coast to the side of the road. People are too quick to panic. This should be taught in drivers ed, along with skid recovery and other emergency training.

Yep, that is true.

Apparently when the ignition switch is in the "off" position when a front impact happens, the airbags fail to deploy.
They are blaming the "fatal" part of the crashes on that, since no airbags deployed.

As you mention, if the car dies most people should be able to safely access the situation and safely get the car to the side of the road.
But there are plenty of people out there, that can barely drive to begin with.

If it is proven that any type of mechanical defect was in play during a fatal crash, guess who is taking the brunt of the blame.

[jd10013]

Originally Posted by Muscle Car Lover

Just my 2 cents but as the bailout of GM is seen as a centerpiece of political economic "success" I doubt anything bad will happen to GM. The switches in question are from 2005-2009 I believe and not for the Camaro model line.

this won't be wrapped up for another 3 or 4 years. new administration. something is definitely going to happen. most likely a fine. who knows how much, but it will probably be a good chunk bigger than what Toyota got. especially since there is a very real possibility of criminal charges coming out of this.

but since there is so much wrong information in this thread about the issue, he's a link that summarizes it nicely

http://money.cnn.com/2014/03/14/autos/gm-recall-faq/

and one more

http://www.freep.com/article/2014032...uptcy-ignition

[gpskinzhut]

Originally Posted by RollaMo

As you mention, if the car dies most people should be able to safely access the situation and safely get the car to the side of the road.
But there are plenty of people out there, that can barely drive to begin with.

Depends on the conditions present at the time of the accident really. Not always that simple.

[Chevy_cowboy]

Originally Posted by RollaMo

Yep, that is true.

Apparently when the ignition switch is in the "off" position when a front impact happens, the airbags fail to deploy.
They are blaming the "fatal" part of the crashes on that, since no airbags deployed.

As you mention, if the car dies most people should be able to safely access the situation and safely get the car to the side of the road.
But there are plenty of people out there, that can barely drive to begin with.

If it is proven that any type of mechanical defect was in play during a fatal crash, guess who is taking the brunt of the blame.

Aint that the truth. I've had a couple really crappy cars over the years that randomly died when they felt like it. My reaction was usually "oh you piece of #%@!" not "gee my engine died, guess I'll run into that ditch over there"

This reminds me a bit of the toyota accelerator thing, yeah maybe there is an issue with the car that needs to be fixed, but its the drivers reaction (or lack there of) to it that makes the situation dangerous.

[jd10013]

Originally Posted by gpskinzhut

Depends on the conditions present at the time of the accident really. Not always that simple.

not to mentions it's asinine to say it's not the manufactures fault for designing a faulty ignition, but the drivers fault for not being trained to drive in such a situation. if that's the case, then GM should be forced to put a disclaimer on all it's vehicles that if your not trained to operate a vehicle in adverse or unexpected mechanical failures then you shouldn't buy one of their cars or trucks.

[Chevy_cowboy]

Originally Posted by jd10013

not to mentions it's asinine to say it's not the manufactures fault for designing a faulty ignition, but the drivers fault for not being trained to drive in such a situation. if that's the case, then GM should be forced to put a disclaimer on all it's vehicles that if your not trained to operate a vehicle in adverse or unexpected mechanical failures then you shouldn't buy one of their cars or trucks.

Nobody said the manufacturer doesn't share some blame, I just think drivers ed should have a chapter or two about emergency reaction and how to handle unexpected situations.

We can hope and assume tires will never blowout, or we can teach our kids how to stop safely and jack a car up and change it when it does. There's plenty of time to figure out who's to blame after the fact.

[mynetdude]

Originally Posted by Chevy_cowboy

This can be an issue in any vehicle, ignition switches aren't designed to have a ton of swinging weight hanging on them. Hit a good bump and the added weight bouncing or swinging will turn the key off. At the very least, it's putting added wear on the ignition.

What I don't understand is how that results in fatal crashes, IMO knowing how to safely control a car that dies at highway speed should be part of learning to drive, either reach down and restart it, or coast to the side of the road. People are too quick to panic. This should be taught in drivers ed, along with skid recovery and other emergency training.

I never took official driver's ed; and many driver's ed don't teach all this (although I agree they should)

There is a skid driving school I can attend (and I want to go to it); supposedly they use temporary modifications by installing "skid wheels" to your vehicle and they have a remote that controls it so you learn how to do it (and some schools have vehicles already for this purpose).

I've been in enough rolling stalls to first kick it into Neutral so you don't have resistance on the transmission and you can coast farther/safer to a location that will allow you to do what you need to do but you also need to put it in N so you can restart it while rolling.

But I agree, I don't know how losing power results in fatal crashes all by themselves unless they are super weak to turn the wheel (but at decent speeds this isn't a problem mostly) if they are THAT weak then they have no business driving.

[citabria7]

Originally Posted by tomlink

So 12 deaths have been linked to the switches and 2 million cars have been recalled. You have a better chance of being killed by lightning than this defective switch. And while GM is taking the blame, many of the victims were drunk or not wearing a seat belt, or both.

Problem also is their hiding the info. There are other problems with the Solstice that should be a recall. Passenger airbag sensors break, disabling the airbags. Known safety defect, and GM is doing the head in the sand bit. Other smaller problems, also causing injuries. Dealer says the fixes are so expensive, GM is digging their heels in. Wonder what else they are hiding.

[Austin45]

Toyota bounced back and they are fine. In the long term, GM will be fine.

[mynetdude]

Originally Posted by citabria7

Problem also is their hiding the info. There are other problems with the Solstice that should be a recall. Passenger airbag sensors break, disabling the airbags. Known safety defect, and GM is doing the head in the sand bit. Other smaller problems, also causing injuries. Dealer says the fixes are so expensive, GM is digging their heels in. Wonder what else they are hiding.

Yeah if these fixes are "so expensive" why don't they check for these problems before they roll off the assembly line; after all that is what they have QA for (or they might as well fire them

[cmoz28]

Originally Posted by Chevy_cowboy

This can be an issue in any vehicle, ignition switches aren't designed to have a ton of swinging weight hanging on them. Hit a good bump and the added weight bouncing or swinging will turn the key off. At the very least, it's putting added wear on the ignition.

What I don't understand is how that results in fatal crashes, IMO knowing how to safely control a car that dies at highway speed should be part of learning to drive, either reach down and restart it, or coast to the side of the road. People are too quick to panic. This should be taught in drivers ed, along with skid recovery and other emergency training.

[shrinkdoc]

All these recalls are from the pre government loan GM. GM would never do that today...to much risk.

[citabria7]

Originally Posted by mynetdude

Yeah if these fixes are "so expensive" why don't they check for these problems before they roll off the assembly line; after all that is what they have QA for (or they might as well fire them

What QA? I love driving my Solstice, but there was no quality control in the plant. Totally hit or miss. Either very good or a total disaster. Only a few years old, and some parts, like hoods, are getting very difficult to get. Don't tell me GM gives a damn about customers.

[The_Blur]

Originally Posted by citabria7

What QA? I love driving my Solstice, but there was no quality control in the plant. Totally hit or miss. Either very good or a total disaster. Only a few years old, and some parts, like hoods, are getting very difficult to get. Don't tell me GM gives a damn about customers.