Date:         Thu, 1 Apr 2004 13:59:47 -0600
Reply-To:     Joel Walker <jwalker17@EARTHLINK.NET>
Sender:       Vanagon Mailing List <vanagon@gerry.vanagon.com>
From:         Joel Walker <jwalker17@EARTHLINK.NET>
Subject:      Re: vanagon recalls
Content-Type: text/plain; charset="iso-8859-1"

> I was just browsing and found the following page:
>
> http://www.autosafety.org/article.php?did=890&scid=23
>
> There were some major safety recalls on vanagons.  Maybe some people
> haven't used the recalls.

hmmm. that web page is kinda odd (to me) .. it doesn't match what the
real government seems to say at http://www.nhtsa.gov/ ... when you
check by maker, model, and year. for example, i've NEVER heard of any
'unintended acceleration' on any 87 vanagons. wondering where they got
that one. probably the autosafety.org folks are just putting out
'complaints' as if they were 'recalls' (which they aren't ... your
complaining to someone isn't the same as the government or the
manufacturer issuing a Recall on something).

i'm not meaning to be critical of the posting, but of the web page
itself. seems to be sorta ... well ... alarmist to me. notice the
Steering/Suspension category ... says that they had 130 complaints
about 1987 vanagon campers ... because "tire loses air". excuse me!???
how, exactly, is THAT a 'recall' or even a manufacturer's problem, and
how does it fall into a Steering/Suspension category???

sorry, folks, i'm ranting ... but i was around when dear ol' Ralphie
Nader tried to crucify the Beetle with sloppy statistics and just
plain bad data. i don't like people doing that to my buses either.

remember, there are Three types of Lies:
Lies, Damned Lies, and Statistics.

:)

unca joel