Comments
by Alex Blaine...
Below
the Fold of Corporate Greed and Stupidity
With the deadline getting
close, the pressure was really on. After months of testing, this
was the best they could squeeze out of this design, and they knew it wasn't
the best it should have been. The engineers at Ford were under the
gun, their newest creation had to knock em dead, or else.
As a flagship line, the Explorer
has sold somewhere over 3 million units, and is the best selling SUV.
But it was in danger of missing it's coming out party if the car geeks
couldn't find a way to keep it's wheels on the pavement during hard turning.
They didn't dare bring it to the attention of someone who would slow the
process down enough for actual safety to be engineered into this car.
Or maybe someone did leave the glovebox open, but for whatever reason,
the problems were overshadowed by the urgent need to launch this new vehicle
line.
Ford needed a hit.
They were working overtime to improve the safety of this new SUV, which
as recently reported in the Los Angeles times, at the time was less roadworthy
than the Chevy Blazer and even the problematic Bronco II which the Explorer
was created to replace. Let's face it, job options could be severely
limited if they didn't deliver, so instead of demanding the luxury of time
needed to refine these things.
They settled for some quick
fixes, including running the standard Firestone tires at only 26 psi instead
of the rated 35. This makes the ride a little smoother, but the extra
stress, friction and heat can cause catastrophic failure that profoundly
and permanently changes lives. This was a cut corner, a cobbled together
adjustment that was not good engineering.
Coupled with tires that often
had defects that made them more prone to failure, it's surprising we haven't
heard about more casualties. The difficulty with a situation like
this is the people resonsible are not always directly culpable. It
was a team effort, not to kill people, but to cut corners, make quotas,
and get that bonus.
The tragic result of course
is coming back to roost now. It's got to be a terrible burden if
you know there was something you could have done, but didn't. The
rumblings from former workers is, the tire workers had a pretty good idea
popping bubbles wasn't the official way, but the way they were required
to do it...hey, they've got families, they've gotta eat. So they
used their company-issued awls and popped when necessary, which apparently
was all the time.
I'm not a tire builder, but
I have been in close contact with someone who was, someone who actually
worked at the Firestone/Bridgestone Decatur plant. I have promised
to keep his identity confidential. Call him Sam.
They were often forced to
work overtime whether they wanted it or not, which is tougn on your accuracy,
and even tougher on your family life. Sam's wife couldn't take it
anymore. Why did he continue? It's not easy to get a good job
if you don't have much patience for idiots. He found a home on the
hot, gritty factory floor.
You get pretty physical building
a tire, so you get to know them on an intimate level. Sam said everyone
knew it was no big deal, but he had no idea what he was told to do could
cause the tire to fail and kill people.
Did he think his supervisors
knew of the danger? Probably not, they were too busy playing grabass
and planning their golf dates. The only thing that ever matters in
that plant is production. As long at the tires kept rolling, life
was a little more bearable. You do what you gotta do, if they tell
you popping bubbles is business as usual, who knows any better?
Someone. But they had
already run all the numbers. The probability of problems that could
lead to litigation seemed to be fairly remote. At least all the memos
the top brass had been seeing would lead one to believe it was all bule
skies and open roads.
Unfortunately, the number
crunchers missed something. When you compound one weakness with several
others, your risks and responsibilities rise exponentially. Especially
when you make a product that directly impacts human life. Just ask
the cigarette makers. |
