[_ Old Earth _] Peer Review in Science

[jasoncran]

ok rhea, which last longer maytag prior to the mid 2000s or the ones now? i have bought two maytag(whirlpool owns maytag since the 2000) since 2004.

my great aunt bought a maytag washer in 1960. she died in 2002, it died in 2004. it rusted the tub out, the thing still worked but leaked.

you dont get that length of use nowadays. i asked the dealers( a freind of mine in church said that they are dont last longer then 5 yrs).

cheap parts and courtesty of china. that was my point., dont think the sae would do that from the plants. saves money. costs go up where are they going to cut?

 

[Rhea]

I see a significant difference in meaning between:
"cars are built to fall apart and so you and i have to fix them and replace them."
and
Products today are made to a price-point, not a service life.

The difference in meaning is whether they are trying to pull one over on you by tricking you into repairs, or whether the consumer has created a business model where purchase price is the only discriminator.

I do not shop at Wal-Mart. What they are selling - cheapest purchase price with no other consideration and bulldozing competition - is not anything I want to buy. But every customer of Walmart is making happen what you lament.

I agree that the USA cars took a long time to catch on to the quality parts wagon and it hurt them hard in the 80s. But prior to the 80s, it was the opposite - used to be "cheap Japanese junk" - and now in the aughts and tens we are seeing Japanese and German cars falling into the low-production cost hole while American starts to look up. It goes in cycles.

As for other products, the American consumer has gotten what they asked for. Lowest price. It is not the sneaky goal of the engineer, though. IMHO.

 

[jasoncran]

I see a significant difference in meaning between:
"cars are built to fall apart and so you and i have to fix them and replace them."
and
Products today are made to a price-point, not a service life.

The difference in meaning is whether they are trying to pull one over on you by tricking you into repairs, or whether the consumer has created a business model where purchase price is the only discriminator.

I do not shop at Wal-Mart. What they are selling - cheapest purchase price with no other consideration and bulldozing competition - is not anything I want to buy. But every customer of Walmart is making happen what you lament.

I agree that the USA cars took a long time to catch on to the quality parts wagon and it hurt them hard in the 80s. But prior to the 80s, it was the opposite - used to be "cheap Japanese junk" - and now in the aughts and tens we are seeing Japanese and German cars falling into the low-production cost hole while American starts to look up. It goes in cycles.

As for other products, the American consumer has gotten what they asked for. Lowest price. It is not the sneaky goal of the engineer, though. IMHO.

yes and no,

heres a list of parts that i think are placed in bad spots

the mercury sable and taurus and ranger 3.0 v6 only have the p/s pulley that is plastic, so as an enginner what is the logic of that., a plastic pulley that has load on it that isnt small with a rubber belt. that will have a short life. breaks easy when you try to use that as pry point. i made that mistake

the afformention upper control arm bushings on the chevy s-10

the junk starters that have been in used since the 60s. the gmc classic. and this is still in part used . i know you what they are. they need to be shimmed alot or replaced and have that noise they make when its time.


but this isnt needed , i am not talking cheap cars the s-10 while not ecomony isnt cheap new either. so either the engineer is told to do these things by the co as they cant skimp elsewhere or?

the former is what i hate. i know they do it. i can go on on dumb things like the ls1 with the optic pick up under the water pump so when the pump leaks so goes the the distrubitor pick up. they could have sealed that sensor better or gone and moved it elsewhere. one doesnt need a pick up with the distrubitor to time the cam,or tell the pcm where it is.