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From: opus@drutx.UUCP (ShanklandJA)
Newsgroups: net.auto
Subject: Re: Who is Liable, ad nauseum...
Message-ID: <399@drutx.UUCP>
Date: Mon, 4-Jun-84 00:26:04 EDT
Article-I.D.: drutx.399
Posted: Mon Jun  4 00:26:04 1984
Date-Received: Fri, 1-Jun-84 06:59:07 EDT
References: <1353@pegasus.UUCP>
Organization: AT&T Information Systems Laboratories, Denver
Lines: 35


    I recently saw a posting in this newsgroup which
    claimed that Ford could have fixed this problem for
    a cost of 3 cents per car.  I assume this means only
    the cost of modifying cars in production?  I would
    find it hard to believe that for 3 cents per car sold,
    Ford could track down and notify the owners and have
    their cars repaired at a dealer.

Correct.  The point is that they knew for over a decade that their
cars had a "feature" that was killing people and causing lots of
property damage; that the engineer who pointed this out included in
his memo a very simple fix that would have raised their production
costs by about 3 cents per car; and that they couldn't be bothered to
do anything about it.

I find arguments that this is all the victims' fault a little hard to
fathom.  If I start my car idling and get out and raise the hood in order
to adjust the idle, am I being reckless and foolish in assuming that the
car will not shift itself into gear and drive away?  If so, there are a
lot of reckless (not wreckless!) mechanics around!  The parking brake
issue is a red herring.  With a parking brake that is slightly out of
adjustment and a slightly high idle, these big US cars with their automatic
transmissions are perfectly capable of taking themselves for a ride with
the parking brake on.

In any case, just how reckless these people were in leaving their engines
running is not the point.  The point is that LOTS of people did it,
that Ford knew about it and could have easily prevented the problem from
recurring, and that they did nothing.  Within reason, machines that will
be operated by humans should be designed so as to make human error
unlikely.  Ford could have saved some 80 lives by showing minimal concern
for the safety of their customers.

Jim Shankland
..!ihnp4!druxy!opus