Date:         Sat, 27 Oct 2001 14:18:25 -0500
Reply-To:     Joel Walker <jwalker17@EARTHLINK.NET>
Sender:       Vanagon Mailing List <vanagon@gerry.vanagon.com>
From:         Joel Walker <jwalker17@EARTHLINK.NET>
Organization: not likely
Subject:      Re: Conspiracy Theory - The Skye is Phalling!!!!
Content-Type: text/plain; charset="iso-8859-1"

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