Mexico’s booming car industry selling unsafe cars

Associated Press ^ | Nov 28, 2013 3:40 PM EST | Adriana Gomez Licon

[Olog-hai]

In Mexico’s booming auto industry, the cars rolling off assembly lines may look identical, but how safe they are depends on where they’re headed.

Vehicles destined to stay in Mexico or go south to the rest of Latin America carry a code signifying there’s no need for antilock braking systems, electronic stability control, or more than two air bags, if any, in its basic models.

If the cars will be exported to the United States or Europe, however, they must meet stringent safety laws, including as many as six to ten air bags, and stability controls that compensate for slippery roads and other road dangers, say engineers who have worked in Mexico-based auto factories.

Because the price of the two versions of the cars is about the same, the dual system buttresses the bottom lines of automakers such as General Motors and Nissan. But it’s being blamed for a surge in auto-related fatalities in Mexico, where laws require virtually no safety protections. …

[Celtic Conservative]

Could it be that the increase in automotive related deaths be attributed to more people owning and driving cars? Naw that's just crazy talk!

CC

[dfwgator]

Spokesman: These days, everyone's talking about the Hyundai, and the Yugo. Both nice cars, if you've got $3,000 or $4,000 to throw around. But, for those of us whose name doesn't happen to be Rockefeller, finally there's some good news - a car with a sticker price of $179. That's right, $179. The name of the car?

Adobe. The sassy new Mexican import that's made out of clay. German engineering and Mexican know-how helped create the first car to break the $200 barrier. At this price, you might not expect more than reliable transportation - but, brother, you get it! Extra features: like the custom contour seats, or the beverage-gripping dash. And the money you save isn't exactly small change!

Jingle:
"Hey, hey, we're Adobe!
The little car that's made out of clay!
We're gonna save you some money
that you can spend in some other way!
Hey, hey, we're Adobe!
Hey, hey, we're Adobe!
Adobe!"

[ show Adobe driver get into a fender-bender. She casually steps out of the vehicle and uses her hands to mold her bumper back into its proper shape, in under six minutes! ]

Spokesman: Adobe. You can buy a cheaper car. But I wouldn't recommend it!

Announcer: Not approved for street use in some states. No warranty either expressed or implied. All sales final.

[bigheadfred]

i think the increase in auto death is people incapable of multitasking multitasking

[ElkGroveDan]

Vehicles destined to stay in Mexico or go south to the rest of Latin America carry a code signifying there’s no need for antilock braking systems, electronic stability control, or more than two air bags,

Oh the humanity. If my first car, a 1974 Chevy that I put 180,000 miles on driving to every corner of the 11 Western states in my teens and twenties hadn't had "antilock braking systems, electronic stability control, or more than two air bags" I wouldn't be alive today to tell ...oh wait. Never mind.

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[ObamahatesPACoal]

I remember a deported illegal somewhere in a country south of Mexico was complaining he no longer had discovery channel or nice roads to drive on.

[Blood of Tyrants]

All that safety costs money. Why make a car for Central and South America that most people can’t afford?

[Caipirabob]

I remember walking through the streets of Chicago in winter and running across a Yugo half buried in a snowdrift. It had been abandoned in the street. There was painting in the visible part that read “for Gods sake, don’t buy a Yugo!”

I suppose we’ll need to be able to read that in Spanish in short order....

[doorgunner69]

Mexicans make unsafe cars?

Who knew??

[ImJustAnotherOkie]

I guess airbags prevent accidents? More likely they cause them because of a false sense of security.

A proper analysis would reveal driver education to be the real cure.

[Sacajaweau]

I miss the little vent window...and roll down windows BECAUSE it's damn expensive when the window motor dies.

Anti lock brakes...stupidest thing yet!!

[yefragetuwrabrumuy]

The funny part is that decades of nanny government in the US have seemingly made cars safer, but the reality is that many are far less safe than they were in the 1950s.

Everything is trade offs. If gasoline prices are low, cars can be heavier, and heaviness equates to more safety. Perhaps the safety innovation that matters the most is seat belts. But from there, the law of diminishing returns hits pretty hard.

Safety glass is probably a good idea, if you can afford it. Air bags? Well, the jury is still out on those. Reducing the amount of steel used really matters.

[autumnraine]

If cars are being made with cheap labor, why are they so dang expensive.

[USFRIENDINVICTORIA]

There is no “cheap” labour; at least not once you factor in efficiency, and productivity per unit of labour.

[9422WMR]

“Safety glass is probably a good idea, if you can afford it. Air bags? Well, the jury is still out on those. Reducing the amount of steel used really matters.”

Ok, here’s the deal:
I was driving to work the other morning, in 3 lane northbound traffic. Typical busy traffic, I’m in the middle lane, and a car comes by on my left. I look over and there is this small lady driving, and I mean small. She was maybe 4’ or 4.5’ tall, I sped up to look again because the weird thing was she had the seat so far up she was stuck on the steering wheel. No more than 4-5” between her chest and the wheel.
The car was a newer Hyundai 4 door model. Now if that air bag deploys, that little woman will be blown apart. Shocking, just shocking I tell you /S.

[ElkGroveDan]

it's damn expensive when the window motor dies.

Yep I knew so many people in the 70s and early 80s who had electric windows that just didn't work and never even thought about having them fixed. When I was a kid we had a 72 Gran Torino wagon and in those days the back window of station wagons was one of the first places where electric windows were standard. But the darn thing went out on us just before I started driving, which really sucked because we lived in Southern California and the AC used so much gas and the air didn't flow through as well with that back window closed. I took apart the door once looking for loose wires but everything was intact so I assumed the motor was bad, but never knew or imagined that I could get another one anywhere (this was before I discovered junk yards). I was hiking in a remote canyon with an older cousin and we came across the same model wagon rolled and flattened and it looked like it had been there for years, but the back swing-out door was intact. I told him I was coming back with some wrenches and screwdrivers to see if the motor was still there. Not being very handy with tools he was astounded that I would know how to get the motor out, or what to do with it. So I went back on my own a couple days later and got the motor out. Back then they were almost as large as a coffee can and weighed a ton. I got it home, cleaned it up, took apart the family car's back door and that thing just bolted right in place. (To this day my cousin who is president of a well-known company still tells that story with his eyes wide in amazement.)

[HiTech RedNeck]

I could see being able to choose some of these features. Antilock brakes and traction clutches, when well implemented, are almost miraculous; I can vouch for that. But there’s a way you can switch at least the traction off if you don’t want it.

Seat belts are usually a smart idea, and probably would have gotten popular on their own if the legal beagles hadn’t thought to be imperious about them. Gain something like an extra insurance coverage or lowered deductible during a crash if you had belts on, and most people would put the belts on.

[HiTech RedNeck]

And dear Heart, quite often the problem is not that you ran into something, but something ran into you. Which is less easily controlled. Again, private world solutions are usually better. Let insurance policies reflect belt usage and people will wear the belts.