Regulators hold meeting on its determination that 52 million air-bag inflators made by ARC should be recalled.
Please consider GM Has at Least 20 Million Vehicles With Potentially Dangerous Air-Bag Parts
General Motors has at least 20 million vehicles built with a potentially dangerous air-bag part that the government says should be recalled before more people are hurt or killed.
The number of affected GM vehicles—a figure that hasn’t been disclosed publicly—makes the Detroit-based automaker among the most exposed in a push by U.S. auto-safety regulators to recall 52 million air-bag inflators designed by Tennessee-based auto supplier ARC Automotive, according to people familiar with the matter.
These inflators have been known to explode with too much force during a vehicle crash, sending metal shrapnel flying and hitting occupants in the face and neck with shards. At least two people have been killed, and several others injured in such incidents.
Aside from GM, there are 11 other automakers that have the ARC air-bag inflators covered by NHTSA’s action, including Ford Motor, Volkswagen, Toyota Motor and Hyundai Motor.
NHTSA began investigating these inflators more than eight years ago, after one person was injured and another one killed by metal pieces flung into the cabin by air-bag explosions.
Any Mechanics Tuning In?
I’ll take a wild stab that it would be a 2-hour repair to fix two bags per car.
20 million vehicles multiplied by 2 hours per car is 40 million hours of labor. That’s 1 million work-weeks or about 19,000 work years.
If the repair can be done in an hour, that’s only 9,600 or so man-years.
Factor in the cost of parts and labor. This seems like a big deal.
Given the UAW strike, the timing of this recall could not be worse.
CNN reports UAW strike cost GM $200 million in its first two weeks
Shawn Fain to Give Update Friday Afternoon
Fox News reports Union President Shawn Fain to Give Update Friday Afternoon.
The UAW announced a 2 p.m. “stand-up announcement” from Fain for Friday, Oct. 6.
Earlier this week, Ford made delivered its seventh offer to the union, which included record pay and benefits. Workers would get a pay raise of more than 20%, along with cost-of-living allowances for inflation.
Additionally, all tiers would be eliminated while wage progression would be reduced by more than half the time it takes to earn top wages. Average new hires will earn six figures by the fourth year.
Average new workers will make $100,000 after for years. Wow.
UAW Strike Has the Big 3 Automakers Scrambling for Parts
The strike is now gong on three week.
Parts were an issue from the start as noted in UAW Strike Has the Big 3 Automakers Scrambling for Parts
Total UAW Unit Labor Costs vs Tesla
- Big Three: Analysts estimate $66 an hour
- Tesla: Roughly $45 at Tesla
- UAW Demands: Meeting Fain’s initial demands would boost costs to $136 according to Wells Fargo analysts.
Tesla does not pay more in hourly wages, but via stock options, Musk has made millionaires out of many workers. Stock options are not a company expense. Stock options come out out of shareholders pockets.
For further comparison details of Tesla vs the UAW costs, please see Elon Musk Taunts the UAW, “Tesla Pays Workers More and We Have Fun”
Whatever the UAW Strike Outcome, Elon Musk Has Already Won
“Any wage increase further advances Tesla’s already tremendous cost advantage in EVs over its older U.S. peers, which are contending with generations of legacy expenses while trying to steer a costly transition to electric from gas-powered vehicles,” says a WSJ report.
Meanwhile, the UAW is allegedly holding out for pensions. It would bankrupt GM again and Chrysler again.
An Epic Battle: Ford to Use China’s Battery Technology, GM Wants it Blocked
Finally, please note An Epic Battle: Ford to Use China’s Battery Technology, GM Wants it Blocked
Wage and pension demands are inflationary and cannot compete with Tesla. And there is an epic battle between Ford and GM on battery technology.
Biden is guaranteed to upset someone. That’s what happens when you interfere in the free markets, taking sides.
The industry and Biden’s forced direction are both sick.
So 50 million cars across 12 makers have these airbags that have killed 2 and injured a few more?
There will be more lives lost replacing these airbags than not replacing them. If a mechanic replaced 1 bag per hour then 50 million hours equals 6 million man days and a figure I read years ago said 1 person dies per 3 million car trips. So to get to do 6 million days work 2 mechanics will die heading to work and another 2 home. Then how many delivery drivers will die dropping off the replacement part? And how many car owners will die taking their car in to get the work done? Do to save a couple of lives from faulty airbags a few dozen will die getting them changed.
Then how many billions will be spent on this recall? And how much economic damage will occur like bankruptcy and laid off workers….. leading to how many cases of depression, suicide, drug/alcohol abuse, family breakdown etc etc.
All because of 2 deaths in 8 years.
“General Motors has at least 20 million vehicles built with a potentially dangerous air-bag part that the government says should be recalled before more people are hurt or killed.”
Far more people have been killed by the Covid shots, yet the government is not calling for the equivalent of recalling them.
A recent study in pre-print, put the blame for the 2021 spike in all cause mortality, squarely on the Covid shot.
The airbag fuse: remove from the fuse panel to fully disable the airbag; the repair manuals recommend pulling this fuse when doing any work in the dash area since there’s some risk of triggering the airbags to go off while you’re working, which could result in serious injury.
Mish. If I may, it would be interesting if you did a piece on the influence of companies like Blackrock and others on the housing market. It’s starting to be a hot topic and will heat up with the elections coming up. Thanks.
This has been an issue for many years and one of the major drivers of increased rental prices.
Congress should prohibit companies from buying up retail housing and renting these properties out, But the probability of that happening is close to zero.
great idea. allow mitch, schumer, hakeem, and speaker maga set the housing codes for every city village and country town. sounds like a great plan. maybe dial 1 800 chairman mao zedong to get some advice.
You have Chairman Mao’s private number? He is in Hell so that means you are a demon.
Were you born an ahole or did you just have to work hard at being one?
Where’s the IGNORE option, Mish?
The blood is now on their hands. Hope it was worth it especially if one of their own family members die from a non functional airbag. If they can live with that strike on.
How did I ever survive the 70’s without a seat belt whilst Mom an Dad drove the family car?
Maybe I should be recalled?
are you requesting to be aborted? might be fifteen minutes of fame for you. call wolf blitzer in the situation room.
Who are their insurers? Product liability and products recall coverage.
Takata was forced into bankruptcy amid lawsuits, multimillion-dollar fines and crushing recall costs involving the air bags. Key to the restructuring plan is the planned sale of most of its assets to a Chinese-owned rival for $1.6 billion. My brother still has a car waiting for that driver side airbag change. I Doubt they have honored half of the cars in question. ARC Automotive has 1,700 employees. Watch this story drag on for years.
All those airbags will never get replaced. The next best thing is to drive a little slower and take fewer risks.
Should be a market incentive for GM et al to get the strike settled. But no let’s blame the UAW for the part management gave them to install on the vehicle.
So a part built by a company in Tennessee creates a faulty airbag and it’s the UAW’s fault???? Auto assembly workers can only put in the parts supplied to them by the bean counters. Even engineers can only design parts that the bean counters say meet their cost concerns. Often these cost concerns are unreasonable.
I have had brand new replacement parts go out in my car after 6 months, and the original ones lasted 100k miles and 12 years. I wasn’t even being a bean counter about it and got the premium brand and grade level. The poor guy who built the parts was given materials and fabrication protocols which I am sure were followed. The bean counters ultimately decided the parameters.
Whats even worse is the bean counters are taking marching orders from the shareholders. The shareholders are only concerned with returns on investments, and are not concerned with having a great company or great product.
If you’re Robert Reich or Krugman, this interpretation of shareholders fits the bill very well.
However, reality strikes and if you continuously release a product(s) that are defective or corners are cut for short-term gain, the company will eventually fail, have to course correct, or will ultimately be acquired.
Mises R Us, Who does give the bean counters the marching orders????
I’ve worked on my cars for 45 years and I have had to ask myself many times ‘why did the engineers do this or that stupid thing”. Anyone who has wrenched on cars knows what I am talking about. Most cars are designed only to give the original owner satisfaction. With people keeping cars for longer periods I think that philosophy is coming back to bite car makers.
Based on Mish’s back of the envelope math, there is no way GM should do that recall.
It’s going to be VASTLY cheaper to do nothing and just pay claims if/when those airbag injuries occur given that it’s taken 8 years time to amass just 2 deaths.
As in the famous?
Fri., Oct. 17, 2008
The Pinto Memo: ‘It’s Cheaper to let them Burn!’
link to spokesman.com
The cost/benefit routine.
A defund the police Minnesota politician, got assaulted and no longer sees defund the police as a cost/benefit for her. Ford no longer makes the Pinto. Those burned to death in the fires never saw the cost/benefit in allowing that.
all you fancy pants girls need to give up the rich world life of having an auto all to yourself. get some sneakers and hoof it, and when needed perhaps dial 1 800 UBER. FFS the 3rd base boomers have no clue how easy their lives have been. makes me LOL. i’ll be hoofing 5 miles to do my errands today. safer and healthier life, too.
Obviously your time isn’t worth much if you are going to hoof it for 5 miles worth of errands. That’s probably close to 2 hrs of time spent.
The reason people drive is because time is valuable.
or they have bad knees
get a cane. or pay a kid to fetch stuff.
i am richer than you’ll ever dream of being. in so many ways my little nit wit employee serf. i’m a trillionaire with time. i flaneur everyday.
so this spring I needed brakes on truck
tried to get oem – found 1 set 100 miles away at dealer
dealer refused to give up
so we went with 3rd party – looked better and were cheaper
“The reason people drive is because time is valuable.”
That must be why the UAW wants a 32 hour work week while being paid for 40.
You’re assuming everyone is a city dweller where Uber exists.
Uber is not an option here. Amazon sends packages via UPS or the post office. There is no door dash. The nearest Tesla charger is 65 miles away.
Keep that in mind before tossing up options that don’t exist outside a Blue Hive.
rich world kid born on 3rd base cannot imagine life without owning autos.
TT-You will never convert the fat lazy American. I was a bike commuter-the best part of my day.
CORRECT. i’ve broken through to roughly one per annum. like screaming in the wind on a stormy sail……….i do it as i like to see the truth told but i am with you. the fat fuck car culture is a rich world right. they have no clue. they are brainwashed and doing the most dangerous activity too. don’t drive, and one’s actuary odds of living healthy increase dramatically. big killer of humans.
What do you do when you need to haul something heavy, like 3/4″ Plywood, 5 sheets, to complete a project?
OH, I see, you never used a hammer?
Home Depot does delivery even probably same day
i’ve built more houses than you, i would lay odds. i didn’t say i never drove. i said it’s not needed usually. you rich girls get panties in knots when a man walks a few miles for errands. thanks for the chuckle. now fuck off. and down vote. the more down votes the better i feel. nit wit barometer
You need a car anywhere in the USA except for maybe parts of NYC… Uber and Lyft trips get expensive quickly