<VV> [FC] Corvair Research

[Keith Hammett]

Bill has a very good point.  This is becoming more common in the
engineering world, the "human factor".  Today it probably would be
looked at as a contributing factor.  However when "Unsafe ..." was
written this was not considered so the paper should not include this as
the basis for the "engineering disaster" but rather as a further
"study".  

 

The real "engineering disaster" with the Corvair was not in engineering
but rather with GM's handling of the situation.  There was a write up in
the Communique about how GM handled the problem.  If the GM lawyers
would have followed the path of the engineers taking the models into the
court rooms and proving a safe design, who knows maybe Ralph wouldn't be
around today.  Maybe Harry can provide this student with a copy of the
Communique article.

 

Ford also had the "engineering disaster" with the Pinto gas tank.  This
was not an engineering problem but a cost decision that was bad.  Ford
left out the baffle system.  There are many "engineering disaster's"
that when really looked at are not truly a failure from engineering but
rather some other human factor.  

 

Keith Hammett

 

-----Bill Elliott wrote-----

 

There is a whole  field of engineering study now dedicated to "human 

factors". A product may be safe and effective but if it differs in human


interaction that other similar products (or the "intuitive" way of 

operating it would cause the product to malfunction), it is considered 

to be of flawed design. In the world of medical equipment design, this 

factor has recently been given HUGE weight by the FDA when approving new


devices.

 

One of the first places we saw this theory applied in the automotive 

world was the Audi "unintended acceleration" issue... while the Audi, 

like the Corvair, was found to be of a safe and effective design, the 

pedal placement differed significantly from the average American car. 

(It did not differ significantly from say BMW or Mercedes, but Audi was 

the victim of its own success... the 5000 enjoyed a MUCH greater direct 

crossover of owners directly from American marques like Buick..So the 

average Audi owner was more likely to have that as their first European 

car (particularly with an automatic gearbox) than any of the other 

marques). This was seen as an "engineering flaw" for Audi when "human 

factors" were considered. The gas pedal interlock was a fix for the 

"human factor", not for the car.

 

You can readily see a parallel to the Audi story with the Corvair. 

First, the average owner was coming directly from an American car 

(unlike say Mercedes or Porsche) where terminal oversteer was the 

primary handling characteristic rather than the incessant understeer of 

American car. It was also the first American car with such a 

differential between front and rear tire pressures... a difference not 

intuitive to the average person (or the average filling station or
garage).

 

So from those perspectives the Corvair indeed was of "flawed" design....


it might be interesting to apply these modern engineering evaluation 

standards to the Corvair design rather than trying to make the 

conventional case that the design itself was flawed from a "pure" 

engineering perspective... might help the grade with a 

politically-correct professor as well...

 

Of course the lower insurance losses for the Corvair of the period 

versus its peers could also be shown as proof that the overall design of


the Corvair was superior enough to more than overcome what could be seen


as human factor design flaws....

 

Bill

 

 

--------Chuck S wrote-------

 

Isn't it sad we all understand and accept the comments ....  Don't tell
he 

truth if it impacts one's grades.... Since it is an "engineering" class
it 

is NOT supposed to be political/politically correct/accepted by non-and 

anti-automotive media and population.. It is SUPPOSED  to be based on 

research and facts, not (biased or opinion) information, but facts.

 

Chuck S

 

----shortle wrote------- 

 

 

> Your son should also bring up the congressional findings that
exonerated 

> the Corvair (too late of course) and deemed the car safe.The only car
ever 

> said to be safe made in the USA.But not if it will not get him a good 

> grade. Remember, it's not the truth that matters but the end result
(just 

> ask Ralph).

>