Not quite true. Remember the pet food and toy problems from commie land? I don't believe the pet food company would want to save few pennies and go with dangerous products. Same as the toy company, there is no way Mattel choses lead paint to save money and sacrifice the safety of our kids.
What is the root of the problem? Commies got no ethics.
I just have to ask...by any chance are you Chinese? lol
The root of the problem is a total lack of oversight by the buyers for the toy companies and food suppliers. Any time you buy from the lowest bidder the jobs done by your quality control and contract compliance departments are vital to your corporate survival. The fact that the tainted food products were not detected until there were fatalities means nobody from the company that purchased those tainted products ever bothered to check the product they were putting their name and reputation on to see if it was safe or even close to what it was supposed to be. The same goes for the toy companies here. In most European countries the toy seller has to certify in writing that the toy if painted has been painted with lead free paint. If the place is ISO certified they have to be able to provide traceability for almost every part that makes up the finished product.
Contract compliance works only if your purchasing and quality control people write very detailed specs for everything that you need control over. It is not a rule you only apply to third world countries either. Many years ago I was a resident inspector for a large aerospace project subcontracted out to one of the largest and better managed industrial groups in France for eighteen months. This company built the TGV trains and the new Queen Mary for Cunard. There was a guy assigned to follow me around who also acted as a translator and filter between the factory manager and the team of American QC people living in residence for the term of the contract. We were at the point the first production samples were being assembled when I found that the nuts holding bolt on assemblies to the frame were flush with the threaded ends of the studs that were welded to the frame. Standard engineering practice for aerospace is to have at least three threads remaining exposed after a fastner is torqued to its limit. The shop manager told the foreman in French to fix it and he told the manager it would take several days to replace the studs. The shop manager then told the foreman to remove the washers and re-torque the fastners because the stupid American would never notice. My translator told me the manager would get it taken care of. A few days later I went to check on the progress. All of the fasteners I could see had the lockwashers removed so the reduced thickness allowed the required three threads to protrude. Now after spending nine months surrounded by French speaking people and having a translator present whenever he was required meant that by immersion I actually had developed a good grasp of the language, so when I told the manager in French that I was not amused by his assumption that I was too stupid to notice his little trick and that he would be required to strip the frame bare so I could inspect and measure every stud, the look on his face and the other workers around us was priceless. That delay cost them an extra three weeks and a late delivery penalty. I am sure they would have shipped that assembly without the lockwashers if I had not caught them and the certain failure of that assembly would have cost many lives. You can never assume that anything will be done correctly in good faith by anyone because the best process control is only as strong as the weakest link in the chain.
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Law-makers are supposed to regulate in the interest of the public as opposed to regulating in the interest of the regulated party.
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What is the root of the problem? Commies got no ethics.
You are just a little politically correct ray of sunshine aren't you?
The root of the problem is the the buyers get their crap from the lowest bidder and look the other way as far as quality goes in favor of a low price. So manufacturers will start cutting corners to under-cut each other on price and win the business.
Its the BUYERS that got no ethics. The manufacturers are just fulfilling a need. This is free market economy 101, folks!
As far as the Chinese man goes, I hope he's happy with his new car. I'll stick with my W140, thank you!
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The root of the problem is the the buyers get their crap from the lowest bidder and look the other way as far as quality goes in favor of a low price. So manufacturers will start cutting corners to under-cut each other on price and win the business. Its the BUYERS that got no ethics. The manufacturers are just fulfilling a need. This is free market economy 101, folks!
Well said. We need to start looking at ourselves instead of always putting the ball in someone else's court. If we want cheap crap, we get cheap crap.
The law of attraction works!
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Well said. We need to start looking at ourselves instead of always putting the ball in someone else's court. If we want cheap crap, we get cheap crap.
The law of attraction works!
This is the statement I would run with Dont blame the makers, blame the middlemen and the companies who set the parameters for the makers.
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Quote:
Originally Posted by n5160u
China is still a developing country. Their economy while still communist has been rapidly evolving away from strong central control and is shifting rapidly to a market driven one. The growth of middle class working citizens has caused an explosive growth in private vehicle ownership which under the previous hard line commies would have never happened. This has caused China to become a major consumer of foreign sourced crude oil and has partly been one of the reasons oil prices have gone up.
As for safe cars, they are using a free market approach the way conservtives would like to see adopted here. You get what you pay for with nobody telling you that you must wear seat belts or buy safety equipment you don't want to pay for. Volkswagen has been building cars in China for a very long time and the cars they build are equipped with all the safety features that were required when they were certified in the EU. That means the latest generation of VAG products like the current Golf V meet all of the current requirements in the EU and the first generation Golf which is still in production in China meets the standards in effect the last year it was built in the EU which means an older body structure design but still equipped with airbags and belt tensioners. Buyers who are unwilling to pay the price for VAG products are free to buy Chinese designs that may not comply with any safety standards.
China exports some of the finest quality products you can find and also some of the worst much like Japan was doing back in the 1950's. It's all a matter of what the importer has specified. The crap sold by WalMart isn't crap because it came from China, but is crap because WalMart chooses to sell products designed and built to it's specifications that require low prices to be more important than quality.
I am sure that any Mercedes built in China will be built to the same standards expected of all Mercedes products.
i agree with you with the fact that china is a developing country and that it is going through growing pains as did japan in the 1950's. i still remember my dad talking about how crummy japanese products were in the 50's and early 60's. now they make some of the best things in the world. china does make a lot of quality products i must say.
what is interesting for me about china is that they are communist but with a definite capitalistic flair. i think this may be confusing for the chinese let alone the world. how is one communist and capitalistic at the same time? it is like a hippie who clear cuts forests. i think it's just weird...the term i usually use for these situations is 'hypocrite'.
i cant even call the chinese socialistic (which my definition is a middle ground of communism and capitalism) as the welfare and concern for its citizens seem to somewhere like 53,988,901 on its list of priority.
as i discuss with my friends who have businesses in japan, their major complaint and concerns are pollution. there is sooo much pollution coming over from china that they are becoming concerned how it will affect their way of life.
my parents friends have already been the victims of a mini chinese take over. she owned a factory. the middle man said that the goods 'did not sell' and that SHE was responsible for HIS losses. he then held her captive (unable to leave the country) until she was able to pay for 'HIS' losses. she had to 'sell' all the property she acquired within china so that she could pay off her 'debt'. she is now back safely in north america and will NEVER do business in china again. you dont have to believe me on this one...i know that it truly happened. these are the stories that never make it to he news.
i read of horror stories where china is more than happy to be paid for toxic and hazardous waste dumping in their country. combine that with little to no concern, control or accountability of hazardous waste generation from unregulated, unaccounted and uncontrolled growth that is dumped into the ground, water and surrounding environment...you get poisoning of the soil and water. with a population of 1.3 BILLION, they are going to eventually have to clean up all that toxic waste in order to grow non-lethal crops or import clean food and water in IF (and that is an enormously HUGE if) the country 'cares' about the health and well being of its citizens...which up to this point, it has shown little to none of that.
are 'we' to blame for this? indirectly, yes. it is similar to illegal drug lords absolutely prospering to fill a demand. the developed world including americans demand cheap goods and there are countries that are more than willing to supply this demand at the expense of the health and well being of its citizens...china, india, phillipines etc. we, in turn, are more than happy to buy the cheap goods that come from these places...and the cycle continues.
Well Mr Wang Zahn, since the airbag system (driver+passenger airbag) works by 2 pins located behind the front bumper, so if a collision occurs there's a conductor which connects these 2 pins so the computer knows what airbags to deploy.
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Jomzo
Well Mr Wang Zahn, since the airbag system (driver+passenger airbag) works by 2 pins located behind the front bumper, so if a collision occurs there's a conductor which connects these 2 pins so the computer knows what airbags to deploy.
Go off and buy a chinese car, I don't care.
Actually, the control is done by an accelerometer mounted in the center console under the dashboard. That determines the rate of deceleration and decides whether to pre-tension the belts, trigger the airbags, adjust the headrests, etc. All of this in done in conjunction with the status of the safety belts (used or not), occupation of the seats, etc. Since the 90's, Mercedes always had a phased safety approach, e.g. if a front seat is not occupied, that airbag would not inflate, if the crash is from behind or the side, then the airbag will not inflate either, since it is of no benefit. Similar;y, if the safety belt is used, the threshold for airbag inflation is also increased and it will only trigger at a higher speed. This is different from many lower-cost cars where the airbags are trigger at any speed, regardless of the direction of the accident or the status of the safety belt.
Since Mr Zahn could still sprout his crap afterwards, we can see that the calculations were (unfortunately in this case) correct.
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Dont blame the makers, blame the middlemen and the companies who set the parameters for the makers.
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