Lawyers and governement
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Started by mcfarmer - Feb. 13, 2019, 3:24 p.m.

So I complain about attorneys and government as much as the next person but I heard today an example of why this is a great system.


Seems 1.5 million Ford trucks have a transmission issue, model years 2011 to 2013 so they are having a recall.


Now I’ve never been involved in a recall. According to what I read it’s a simple fix; and no charge, correct ?


It’s pretty easy to imagine a society where the response would be too bad, so sad. Some of these vehicles must have 100k and more. I’m certain Ford isn’t doing it because they’re such nice folks.


I say hats off to the system we have were the little guy is taken care of at the expense of the big corp.  You folks with experience in other parts of the world, how common is this? I’m sure other developed countries do much the same, don’t they ?

Comments
By carlberky - Feb. 13, 2019, 4:53 p.m.
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https://www.nytimes.com/2016/05/28/business/international/japan-takata-airbag-recall.html

TOKYO — Japan will recall an additional seven million vehicles fitted with airbags made by Takata, the Japanese auto parts maker facing questions about whether it can handle the growing financial strain of a global safety scandal.

The new recall increases the number of vehicles affected in Japan to 19.6 million. Regulators in the United States this month  more than doubled the number of vehicles with Takata airbags to be recalled to about 63 million, adding to what was already the largest auto safety recall in American history.

By metmike - Feb. 13, 2019, 8:42 p.m.
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When this topic comes up, it often makes me think of this guy:


Ralph Nader

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ralph_Nader

"Nader was educated at Princeton and Harvard and first came to prominence in 1965 with the publication of the bestselling book Unsafe at Any Speed, a critique of the safety record of American automobile manufacturers that became known as one of the most important journalistic pieces of the 20th century."


Wheels

50 Years Ago, ‘Unsafe at Any Speed’ Shook the Auto World

https://www.nytimes.com/2015/11/27/automobiles/50-years-ago-unsafe-at-any-speed-shook-the-auto-world.html

By metmike - Feb. 13, 2019, 8:45 p.m.
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https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ralph_Nader


This is a great story:


Unsafe at Any Speed

Nader was first propelled into the national spotlight with the 1965 publication of his journalistic expose Unsafe at Any Speed. Though he had previously expressed an interest in issues of automobile safety while a law student, Unsafe at Any Speed presented a critical dissection of the automotive industry by claiming that many American automobiles were generally unsafe to operate. Nader researched case files from more than 100 lawsuits then pending against General Motors' Chevrolet Corvair to support his assertions.[12]

The book became an immediate bestseller but also prompted a vicious backlash from General Motors (GM) who attempted to discredit Nader by tapping his phone in an attempt to uncover salacious information and, when that failed, hiring prostitutes in an attempt to catch him in a compromising situation.[13][14] Nader, by then working as an unpaid consultant to United States Senator Abe Ribicoff, reported to the senator that he suspected he was being followed. Ribicoff convened an inquiry that called GM CEO James Roche who admitted, when placed under oath, that the company had hired a private detective agency to investigate Nader. Nader sued GM for invasion of privacy, settling the case for $425,000 and using the proceeds to found the activist organization the Center for the Study of Responsive Law.[7]

A year following the publication of Unsafe at Any Speed, Congress unanimously enacted the National Traffic and Motor Vehicle Safety Act. Speaker of the United States House of Representatives John William McCormack said the passage of the National Traffic and Motor Vehicle Safety Act was due to the "crusading spirit of one individual who believed he could do something: Ralph Nader".[15]

"Nader's Raiders" and Public Citizen

In 1968 Nader recruited seven volunteer law students, dubbed "Nader's Raiders" by the Washington press corps, to evaluate the efficacy and operation of the Federal Trade Commission (FTC). The group's ensuing report, which criticized the body as "ineffective" and "passive" led to an American Bar Association investigation of the FTC. Based on the results of that second study, Richard Nixon revitalized the agency and sent it on a path of vigorous consumer protection and antitrust enforcement for the rest of the 1970s.[16]

Following the publication of the report, in 1971, Nader founded the watchdog group Public Citizen to engage in public interest lobbying and activism on issues of consumer rights, serving on its board of directors until 1980.

By mcfarmer - Feb. 14, 2019, 9:30 a.m.
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I worked construction right out of high school, long enough for my body to tell me I’d better go to college.


The owner had a brother who was a Nader lawyer, I was told he was one of the original “raiders” but don’t know for certain.


I agree rules and regulations can seem to go too far at times. But, I wouldn’t want to live in a country devoid of them. Some folks seem to think it would be better, I’m not one.


When I pass a semi on the interstate at 80mph I like that someone checks that rig out occasionally.

By TimNew - Feb. 14, 2019, 10:11 a.m.
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"I agree rules and regulations can seem to go too far at times. But, I wouldn’t want to live in a country devoid of them. Some folks seem to think it would be better, I’m not one."


I think a lot of people fail to realize there is a happy medium that falls well below the current level of government/regulation.  There are far more choices than all or nothing.


By mcfarmer - Feb. 14, 2019, 11:38 a.m.
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Absolutely, but who is to decide ? Seems things never get removed, only added to.


I might like the regs on trucks but maybe not the ones on tractors.

By TimNew - Feb. 14, 2019, 12:26 p.m.
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" Seems things never get removed, only added to."


Exactly...    Government creations don't go away.  They get justified and/or subsidized.