Fix the Nuts Behind the Wheel, Not the Technology
By Design News Staff -- Design News, January 7, 2007
FIX THE DRIVER FIRST
Your article suggested three methods for reducing traffic fatalities (“Slamming the Brakes on Highway Fatalities,” DN 10.09.06). You missed the quickest and most effective option. Fix the nut behind the wheel. U.S. drivers are simply awful. This is a consequence of inadequate training and very low performance standards. Common behaviors such as tailgating, aggressive driving and laziness reflect either incompetence or gross stupidity. All can be effectively addressed by raising the standards for obtaining and retaining a license. If the penalty for every moving violation was attendance at an advanced driving course (at the violator's expense and with a tough test at the end), fatalities would drop off to a fraction of the current number. If I have to mingle with other cars on the road, I'll take primitive clunkers with smart drivers at the wheel over high-tech robots piloted by fools, any day of the year.
Peter Militch
Laurel, MD
IN SEARCH OF CLUB MED
In reading your column about students finding conditions not to their favor (“Quality of Life 'Poor' at Engineering Schools,” DN 10.23.06), I have to ask, are they looking to embark on a career that can bring great reward, or are they looking for “Club Med”? It's a sorry state for these kids who live in a plastic world wanting for nothing and then having to give up creature comforts to learn something.
Carl Zito
Rochester, NY
PUT OFF BY THE HAZING
Same situation in Physics/Chemistry, in my experience. Many aloof professors, TAs who can't speak English (and often don't care about it), and lonely weekends spent studying while everyone else is out enjoying college life. I'd probably do it again, but I'm sure many considering sci/engineering careers are put off by the “hazing.”
Jason Spitzer
San Jose, CA
YOUR FLOOR, SIR, IS THE PROBLEM
Your story about your errant dishwasher hits pretty close to home for me (“Mike's Hard Lemonade, Rust and Bad Product Design,” DN 10.23.06). In our case, our Maytag clothes washer had finally started to act up after nearly 15 years. It appeared to be in the control switch, which was to be quite expensive. We concluded that rather than spend so much on an old washer which, of course, would seem to have a limited life, we would spring for a new Maytag. After all, we had used Maytags for 48 years. My mother and her neighbor used an old ringer Maytag for 50 years.
What we did not see coming was that this same old quality company no longer was interested in the quality engineered machine, but is now more directed by the bottom line — profit. This new Maytag washer now wobbles as it spins. It also walks around the utility room. The company has come out several times to fix it, but now claims our floor is too flexible — the same floor that has been OK for the other Maytags all these years. We were told to reinforce the floor, and then it will probably work fine. The repairman told us that the beef has been taken out of the machine much like most brands of washers. Maytag has also redesigned the feet to be automatically adjustable. As I see it, it has caused a more flexible floor mounting which adds to the wobble problem. I want my old machine back; but, alas, it has gone to a scrap pile. Have fun with your new dishwasher.
Jim Oneby
Northlake, IL
WIFE AND I KEPT OUR VOWS
You have to trust your memory and remember the names of the companies that put out products that do not last. I parted company with Sears in 1963 when the home entertainment center we bought barely made it past the warranty period (90 days) and they wouldn't stand by their product.
My wife and I made a vow that we wouldn't buy another Sears product and to this day, we haven't.
Gene Christenson
Huntington Beach, CA
FINGERS CROSSED!
I just replaced my approximately 10-year-old Maytag Neptune because a single resistor on the circuit board burned out. At least, that is all I could see was wrong with it, as I proceeded to completely disassemble the entire unit and recover $14.17 in scrap metal price, mostly in the stainless-steel tub and motor. Unfortunately, I had no idea what the resistor value was if I wanted to attempt to replace it, the color bands were burned. I may have been able to find the value on some website if I had pursued it, but basically I was too far along in my disassembly process. I replaced it with a Sears Kenmore that I see on other websites has some good and some bad reliability reviews. I purchased it at a Sears “scratch and dent” outlet at a deep discount, so I'll keep my fingers crossed that it performs for 10 or more years. My youngest should be out of college by then.
Tim Logman
Milwaukee, WI
DANCING MACHINE
My wife and I bought a brand-new, 2,200-sq-ft house that was on the market for about nine months. The house came with the stove, refrigerator, microwave and dishwasher included. All four of these appliances were the Amana Gold Series, very nice. However, the spot for the washer and dryer were empty. We went looking for these appliances, and found the Amana Gold Series equivalents.
About a month after we had them delivered, we noticed the dryer started dancing across the hardwood floors. I looked at the bottom and noticed the legs on this dryer were a spiral plastic. I went to the garage and got some of the carpet/rug non slip mats you can buy.
I put them under each leg and the dancing stopped. About a week later the dryer started making strange noises — a dull, whining noise kind of like a circular saw. I called the store to complain and the manager asked me what I expected, I only bought the gold series units. By now I was getting angry, and called the company directly and was told the same thing. The dryer is now about a year old and I just shut the door to the laundry room to muffle the noise.
I am in the engineering field and if I treated my customer the way they did, I would be out of business for sure.
Randy Behnke
Design News Reader
NO KENMORES IN THIS HOUSE!
I can relate to your experience with the Kenmore washing machine. Back in 1972, my wife and I bought a Kenmore washer. We used it almost every day and after a year (right after the warranty ran out) it would not drain. When the service man came, he said the pump was shot and was not repairable. I told him to leave the old pump and I would dispose of it — and he did. Being somewhat of a handyman, I took it apart and cleaned it all up and put it back together and, low and behold, after another year the washer quit draining again. I took that old pump I had cleaned and put it in the machine and it worked fine. After a few years of changing out pumps we did buy another washer (NOT A KENMORE). A few weeks ago, my wife asked if I was ready to give Kenmore another try? My response was a definite NO!
My problem is that just two weeks ago, my wife talked me into buying a Frigidaire refrigerator with the automatic ice maker (a first for us). Hope my luck is better than yours!
Dick North
Brightwood, VA
YOU THINK YOU HAVE A RUST PROBLEM??
I have a 7-year-old Ford Windstar which required the replacement of the entire front sub-frame (holds the engine and front suspension components) because the condensate drain for the AC drips on the frame rail at the unibody mounting point and it rusted through. I'd sure like to see how that one got past the DFMEA.
Gary W. Johnson
Huntington, IN
IT'S A DOWNHILL BATTLE
I absolutely feel that product quality and reliability are going downhill. The Waterpik illustrates this perfectly. Almost to the day, after the two-year warranty expires, the tube springs a leak at either the pump exit or handle intake. Since the tube is welded at both points, it is impossible to repair or replace, so a few ounces of poor design result in about 2 lb of otherwise-still-working junk that will end up in some landfill for eternity. Since our local stores sell no competing brands, I know this from experience: six of the little monstrosities in 12 years.
Joseph Brown
Salem, OR
SOLUTION: MARRY A HANDYMAN
I just finished reading your editorial regarding appliance quality, or should I say lack thereof? This is something we all have to deal with. Personally, in the last month my darling engineer/husband has been able to save my washing machine, our paper shredder and the dishwasher! I don't know what I would do if I were not married to a mechanical engineer! He has fixed our dryer multiple times — it is now 30+ years old. We try to avoid replacing appliances — I just purchased my first-ever microwave this year when we remodeled our 30-year-old kitchen. My GE electric range was 30+ years old and still entirely functional — of course my husband had replaced the broiler element once. I recall that my grandmother had a White Westinghouse “Ice Box” — she called it an ice box for 50+ years! I am still using ice cube trays because it is too difficult to get a water line to our current refrigerator that is equipped with an ice maker! Oh yes — my husband just recently bypassed a limit switch on our less-than 2-year-old paper shredder to keep that functioning.
I guess you can look it as a challenge to outwit the manufacturer — we take great pleasure in doing whatever we can to extend the functional life of our appliances.
I will have to say that our Cub Cadet lawn tractor is 26 years old and runs like a Deere — minor preventive maintenance only. We do drive GM cars exclusively and have had several models go to 185,000 with good preventive maintenance — so it is not all bad news!
Deborah E. Hoffer
Loveland, OH
GETTING SOFT ON QUALITY
Your article this month hits the nail squarely on the head! Products sold today are no where close to what I have experienced in my lifetime. My water softener “finally” took a dump after 20 years of trouble-free service. As the old one was a “Culligan,” why not stay with something that works and is trouble-free? Well, the new one with, as you say “gadgets,” hasn't worked correctly since it was installed three years ago. The service people they send out to evaluate seem to be on totally different pages from one to the other. And, they're scheduled to return yet again tonight to evaluate the water condition. If I enjoyed hard water I would flush the entire softener but, soft water has many advantages. Glad to hear other people have had same experiences and will continue to have for quite some time to come.
Bill Newcomb
Syracuse, IN
Correction: In our December Medical Supplement, John Williamson was misidentified. He is a freelance writer living in Lebanon, NJ.
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