This is what Hans and Gunter WANT you to think.

Mike
The truth is out there

> From: Joel Walker <jwalker17@EARTHLINK.NET>
> Organization: not likely
> Reply-To: Joel Walker <jwalker17@EARTHLINK.NET>
> Date: Sat, 27 Oct 2001 14:18:25 -0500
> To: vanagon@GERRY.VANAGON.COM
> Subject: Re: Conspiracy Theory - The Skye is Phalling!!!!
>
> nah, you guys have it all wrong ... it's the bean-counters in the
> company that cause it!!!
> they mandate that the vehicle be quick and easy to ASSEMBLE!!! not fix
> or take apart.
> so the dash is built as a one-piece item and put in as a zip-zap-boom
> process. when YOU have to take it apart, however, you have to
> disassemble all the little pieces of the thing individually, cause you
> don't have the big assembly arm that stuck it into the vehicle (oh,
> and the seats weren't in there at the time). :(
>
> not sure if this is the case on our bus, but it seems likely ... i've
> seen this at the local mercedes plant, where they build the M-Class
> ...it takes the guys all of 30 seconds to install the dash. really.
> the dash is built somewhere else, in another building, by a
> sub-contractor, and brought to the final assembly building wrapped in
> plastic and ready to be picked up by that assembly arm-thingie. and
> yes, that 30 seconds includes picking the dash up by that arm.
>
> the worst was the fuel tank on that m-class ... it goes into the frame
> (they have a separate body bolted to a ladder frame, like the old
> pickup trucks in the u.s.) BEFORE the body goes on. yup ... you can
> guess what happened. they had to recall the first 4,000 vehicles cause
> the fuel tank didn't meet some safety crush standard ... and that
> meant unbolting the body from the frame and lifting up the body to get
> the fuel tank out!!!  took many hours per vehicle to do the fix,
> whereas it had taken less than a minute to install the tank when the
> car was coming down the assembly line, with all the robots doing most
> of the work along the way.
>
> stuff like starters already being put onto the transmission-engine
> assembly before it ever goes into the car; engines already having
> spark plugs and wires and fuel injection before being put together
> with the transmission; cooling systems already connected and filled
> before the fenders and body get bolted to the frame.
>
> another example: on the m-class, the entire side of the car is one
> piece of metal. it's welded to the top and body pieces by a robot. if
> you have a fender bender and want it fixed, the body shop is gonna
> have to cut and weld the body to repair it. and it will not be cheap
> at all ... not nearly as cheap as bolting on a new fender. rather like
> our buses, i'm afraid.
>
> it's an instructive process, to go on the factory tour of such a
> plant. my nephew went to the honda plant in marysville, ohio, and said
> it's pretty much the same thing there ... the whole car is designed to
> be built quicker ... and quicker equals cheaper. and the designers
> don't care about how long it takes or how difficult it is for the
> mechanic to fix it ... hopefully, when/if it breaks, it'll be out of
> warranty and you'll just go get a new one.
>
> so i'd blame the bean-counters and lawyers (just gotta throw them in
> there!! i KNOW they're responsible ... somehow! :)   not the engineers
> and mechanics ... the mechanics suffer worse than we do: they're
> trying to make a living fixing those things!!  :)
>
> unca joel
>