Tires, Toothpaste and Toy Recalls, Oh My! Chinese Cars Coming Soon
The latest fiasco was the recall of 255,000 Chinese made tires imported here for trucks, vans, and SUVs because, well, tires tend not to run all that well when the tread decides to separate. Such a problem is much better to discover when the car is sitting in your driveway than when passing a semi on the interstate at 80 mph. So while upsetting, the recall is a good move.
But the problem remains: products made in China account for some 60 percent of all consumer product recalls in the United States this year. There are promises that in just a couple of years, inexpensive ($10,000) Chinese made mini-cars are going to be roaming the highways and byways of the U.S.A., so high mileage-minded motorists can conserve fuel and their savings.
We are going to trust the same folks who can't keep tires from falling apart to send us cars that don't fall apart?
In just a matter of months 83 types of Mattel Fisher-Price toys had to be recalled for excessive lead in the toys’ paint. There was pesticide residue in fresh ginger shipped here, not to mention salmonella contaminated snack foods, and toothpaste that rather than containing a whitener contained ethelene glycol or anti-freeze. What, to keep it from freezing on our teeth in the winter?
Add to that the recalls for lead paint on toy wooden trains for kids; harmful residue on eel and catfish; toxic proteins in cat and dog food that poisoned pets; mislabeling of fish in which people thought it was harmless monkfish and didn't know it really was puffer fish with deadly toxins.
"If a consumer has been impacted personally by one of the recalls, a kid got sick from a toy with too much lead paint or a pet got sick or died from the contaminated pet food, it is reasonable to expect they are going to take a stand and not buy a car made in China when they get here," said Rebecca Lindland, senior auto analyst for Global Insight.
"If you buy a computer and it goes bad, you dispose of it in the garbage along the street. You can't do that with cars," she said.
Before the Chinese start selling cars here, they need to clean up their act---and their fish, vegetables, pet food, toothpaste and tires.
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255,000 Chinese Tires Recalled (KickingTires)
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Do consumers have a choice, when all US, Europe & Japan manufacturuers have shifted their factories to China (& Vietnam, Thailand, etc) in order to cut cost?
I don't think so.
So don't blame the poor workmanship on the Chinese people. Blame this on the companies that move their factories there! If they are only willing to invest $1 on a product, do you think that you'll be getting something that worth $1.50 in return?
When the workers are poorly paid and have no benefit at all, the 1st thing that they'll think of is whether they are inputing good workmanship and responsibility on their works. Yeah right. Mind you, most of these workers (not the management, but the ones that are using their hands to make things) have little or no education, huge family to support, and need the job desparately!
BTW, there're many documentaries on news reports and tv on how poor the workers on these 3rd world countries are living in, thanks to these companies.
As long as we are welcoming all these companies in providing cheap stuff we can afford, and ask nothing on how these products are made and what kind of conditions the things are made in, then what have we earned to give us the right to complain?
I think 60% of recalls are from China made items because do you know how much stuff is made there? Most toys and even American Flags!! Everything that is imprinted with "MADE IN CHINA" or has a sticker declaring so.
Cars from them would be probably not very good at first, but will improve surely.
If you do not like it now, do not buy it now.
Two comments.
1. Statictics can be misleading or deceiving. 'products made in China account for some 60 percent of all consumer product recalls in the United States this year.' What is the percentage of the consumer products sold in US are made in China? If it is more than 60%, then it is above average.
2.
'We are going to trust the same folks who can't keep tires from falling apart to send us cars that don't fall apart?'
Will you trust bridgestone/firestone tires?
Will you trust US goods after enjoying a transmission rebuid on your Taurus?
Will you trust Toyota after the Engine sludge issue?
Will you trust Japanese products after Sony battery fire?
The list can go on...
By the way, most of the computers are made in China now.
"Made in China" and "Chinese brands" are two different animals! Japanese are good at quality control and management; therefore, even if the quality of a Chinese made Japanese car is a little worse, it will not kill you!
A Chinese-brand car is a different story. Don't expect these communist companies (many controlled by the Chinese Communist Party members or families) to be able maintain the quality level of a Japanese company! And don't expect them to have a high level of responsibility. After all when they kill you, they will just go bankrupt and form a new company under a different name! What do they care?
The boss of a Chinese toy manufacturing company involved in a Mattel recall after its products were found to contain excessive lead levels has hanged himself, Chinese media reported Monday.
As far as Chinese workers having to support large families, I think that the one-child has been taking care of that problem for the last 28 years. On a positive note (not really), many of the organ transplants that you can get in China contain fresh and healthy body parts from political prisoners (Falun Gong practioners are the healthiest), many times so fresh that they are harvested while the victim is still alive. Okay, enough sarcasm, the Chinese government and its state policies and state-owned businesses make me sick to my stomach, and know that each time you purchase a Chinese product you are supporting both an oppressive Communist regime and a corrupt an selfish corporate establishment in the United States which is bent on profit and cares not for you or any other American (as long as you buy the products). Just something to think about.