Posted by JML755 on January 10, 2015 at 15:01:49 from (24.192.190.127):
In Reply to: Next GM recall? posted by DC3puller on January 10, 2015 at 03:35:40:
I've been around the automotive business either working for GM or for suppliers for the last 35+ years. I've also seen my share of "poor design" issues on the vehicles I've owned. Chrysler, GM AND Ford. There is not much difference between the people who work there and do the engineering or the middle level management who supervise them. There is a lot of movement of employees between the 3 companies here in the Detroit area. In fact, much of the actual work nowadays is done by contract people. Many of these are people who were let go or retired from one and entered the contract arena and end up working at one of the other OEMs. Also, much of the product design/build work is done by suppliers. By this I mean the Big guys: TRW, Magna, Bosch, Lear, Johnson Controls.
So, a GM oil pump problem could come from the supplier who also designs/builds pumps for others.
Much of the work that the OEM employees do is paperwork (PPAP, DFMEAs, etc) that is part of the "quality process" but in reality does little to address the real design issues. Most designers are more concerned about making the numbers come out right and verbiage correct so they don't have to do more work. (I'd love to see the DFMEA on the keyswitch) . You also have attitude/culture problems where many of the engineers (especially at GM) are just going through the motions, waiting for retirement. I've just experienced that on 2 different projects we did with GM. A friend of mine who I used to work at GM with went back as a contractor with a different division and confirmed my opinion that "it's the same old GM".
On the other hand, I've done a fair amount of work with the foreign transplants and there is a night and day difference with their approach to the business. Many of the engineers are ex-Big 3 but the culture is different. There is true accountability.
At the end of the day, you'll hear horror stories about ANY of the Big 3 and the transplants DO have some issues but the last 3 vehicles I bought were either Nissans or Hondas and I'm very happy with those purchases. Before that, I had 30+ years of either GM/Ford/Chrysler and ...never again.
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Today's Featured Article - Listening to Your Tractor - by Curtis Von Fange. Years ago there was a TV show about a talking car. Unless you are from another planet, physically or otherwise, I don’t think our internal combustion buddies will talk and tell us their problems. But, on the other hand, there is a secret language that our mechanical companions readily do speak. It is an interesting form of communication that involves all the senses of the listener. In this series we are going to investigate and learn the basic rudimentary skills of understanding this lingo.
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