Historic cases of car makers not being truthful. - Sofa Spud

The fuss over VW prompted me to wonder about other cases of car makers trying to cheat regulations or not telling the truth about their products.

The one that comes to mind for me was the BL Metro, which was claimed to have a revolutionary new rustproofing process and yet very soon became notorious for rapid rusting.

Historic cases of car makers not being truthful. - 1litregolfeater

There was something in the news recently about a certain motor car that was known for cutting out out in traffic and the manufacturers were being obliged to put it right. Quite right too.

Twenty years ago the Ford Probe was known for exactly the same malfunction, and some people died, but Ford got away with it, always claiming that there was no inherent defect in the Mitsubishi electronics which died when exposed to heat.

Historic cases of car makers not being truthful. - jc2

The Probe was,of course,a Mazda with a Ford badge.

Historic cases of car makers not being truthful. - bernie123

World history shows time and time again that the populous gets lied to and it's usually the people in power that do it.

The VW episode is very small potatoes and the mass hysteria reinforces my view that the way people scramble to jump on the compensation bandwagen just shows their true colours.

They are not really concerned with emissions just how much can they claim. The way this is blown up by the media, you would think that VW is solely responsible for the total emissions of the world.

Look at the big picture, emissions are unavoidable.Just by reading this in front of your computer, you are using electricity. Heating your home, cooking your food, going to the toilet, travelling to work, going on holiday etc etc etc. everything YOU do produces emissions.

Lets face it, we are all selfish in one way or another and large groups of people are selfish AND dangerous. In fact, we are all liars.

Yes, I know it's a ramble.

Historic cases of car makers not being truthful. - Andrew-T

.... jump on the compensation bandwagen ...

I like it ! A Freudian slip?

Historic cases of car makers not being truthful. - bernie123

Not so clever I'm afraid, just a typo !

Historic cases of car makers not being truthful. - Andrew-T

World history shows time and time again that the populous gets lied to and it's usually the people in power that do it.

Let's face it, we are all selfish in one way or another and large groups of people are selfish AND dangerous. In fact, we are all liars.

Your last para somewhat negates the first one. The populous are lying among themselves, as you say. Those in power just have a more noticeable effect.

Historic cases of car makers not being truthful. - Engineer Andy

...and yet the Mazda RX-6 wasn't unreliable, just not great handling according to HJ's old review. I think the Probe was a bit more than a re-badged Mazda (like the Mazda 121 was the other way around in the mid 90s [a rebadged Fiesta]).

Historic cases of car makers not being truthful. - 1litregolfeater

The point was, Ford lied and got away with it.

They claimed the PROBE had no flaws, but it did, but FORD managed to obfuscate and prevaricate.

Just like VW are doing now.

Difference is, people didn't just cough a bit and choose a cheaper motor, they actually died in the fast lane when the FORD PROBE 2.5 engine from MAZDA, with the MITSUBISHI distributor, suddenly cut out, leaving them with no power.

Historic cases of car makers not being truthful. - Bilboman

"The point was, Ford lied and got away with it."

"Smooth, silent V-power" in the new ("seen but not heard") Ford Corsair V4, anyone? Quite possibly the biggest whopping lies in the history of car advertisements!

Historic cases of car makers not being truthful. - bernie123

If that V4 was the same engine they put into the Capri 2 liter then it was an absolute pile of excrement. I had one as a cheap banger and had no end of trouble with it. I was a lot younger then and not averse to spending time under the bonnet. Head gaskets went, cylinder heads would warp and I even had a balancer shaft bearing fall out. Believe it or not, I once spent 3 days pulling apart the engine outside my tent in Betys y Coed putting in the new balancer shaft bearing. Got it from Conway and left it in shops freezer overnight to try and shrink it so I could get it into the engine block.

Got it all back together only for it to come out again a day later. In the end I got an engineering shop to grind a thou off the journal so it wouldn't "wipe out " another. Then got rid.

Edited by bernie123 on 20/12/2015 at 20:25

Historic cases of car makers not being truthful. - craig-pd130

youtu.be/Z9Om9oOGh9Y

"The Chrysler Sunbeam gives up to 50mpg, and driving it is sheer enjoyment."

Historic cases of car makers not being truthful. - Avant

The Chrysler Sunbeam had absolutely nothing to recommend it, and renaming it Talbot didn't help of course. But the 50 mpg claim was less outrageous than the absurd claims for some of today's plug-in hybrids: did I see 148 mpg somewhere?

Edit - googled it, and yes I did see it - it's the Mitsubishi Outrageous PHFF - sorry, Outlander PHEV.

Edited by Avant on 20/12/2015 at 23:32

Historic cases of car makers not being truthful. - hillman

What of the tyres with the 'self adjusting' tread. I missed them because I was in Africa at the time. I was told that the tread shuffled about so badly that the life was almost half of the normal. And, the maker sold the 'self adjusting' feature as a virtue.

Historic cases of car makers not being truthful. - 1litregolfeater

You should have asked if a car maker has ever been truthful.

Historic cases of car makers not being truthful. - focussed

The original Matra-Simca Rancho advert?

www.youtube.com/watch?v=QDFmiWyCQmg

Basically it was a front wheel drive Simca 1100 pickup witha plastic body on the back.

I saw one today in my little French town parked outside a workshop that specialises in renovating classic motors-they obviously like a challenge!