My vote for GM's lamest innovation
07-14-2018, 08:16 AM
#1
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My vote for GM's lamest innovation
Must be an office at GM that does nothing but redesign perfectly good items just to make them more complex with no regard to reliability or how they function. How anyone could look at a standard battery post clamp on terminal and think this piece of crap would be an improvement is beyond me. Sorry about the lack of focus, my camera doesn't do good close up.
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corrado (02-17-2019)
07-14-2018, 08:27 AM
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Lord that's a lot of rust. Looks like no one ever looked at it. My 07 with 204,000 miles still looks like new.
But I agree it's a pretty crappy design.
But I agree it's a pretty crappy design.
07-14-2018, 09:03 AM
#5
Burning Brakes
HAHAHA, There is no office, but a position!!! Head of Engineering!! I work with engineers all the time and I am always telling them " Just because you can, doesn't mean you should" With all of todays manufacturing advances of software and machines with the advances of 3d printing new designs of old parts are all over the place, it doesn't always mean the parts are always better, but maybe cheaper as would be the case with the battery connector.. 
Last edited by seijack; 07-14-2018 at 09:04 AM.
07-14-2018, 09:13 AM
#6
Safety Car
Cheaper AND lighter in weight. Always remember what an old racer told me, when you want take 100 lbs out of a car, don’t look for something heavy, instead look for 100 places to take out 1 lb.
07-14-2018, 09:36 AM
#7
Safety Car
They don't care about speed. But weight is supremely important for other reasons. Cost is part of it. But most important, using that instead of the older style, heavier clamp, your car will go 1.63 inches further on a gallon of gasoline. Fuel economy is the big reason. It all adds up.
07-14-2018, 09:56 AM
#9
Le Mans Master
It's cost. Weight savings is an unintended side benefit. I've worked for big companies with very high production volumes. It is simple math. You don't need much savings per unit when you can multiply that by a couple million times. If GM made this battery terminal change across the entire model spectrum, even a few cents savings per unit adds up to a significant number in the end.
07-14-2018, 10:07 AM
#10
Le Mans Master
I have a whole lotta dumb designs on my list for on this car, but it is a mass production unit. It is a smarter more profitable way to build.
07-14-2018, 10:50 AM
#11
Safety Car
It's cost. Weight savings is an unintended side benefit. I've worked for big companies with very high production volumes. It is simple math. You don't need much savings per unit when you can multiply that by a couple million times. If GM made this battery terminal change across the entire model spectrum, even a few cents savings per unit adds up to a significant number in the end.
Before we met, my wife was a manager at Denny's. 3 creamers for tables with 2 cups of coffee. Want more, just ask, but 3 is what you start with.. They did studies on all this stuff, and found most people are satisfied with 3, but would use or waste 4 or more if they were on the table. Multiply that by all the coffee sold at all the Denny's nationwide and you're talking real savings. Could probably buy some of those fancy LLoyds floor mats!
07-14-2018, 11:19 AM
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07-14-2018, 11:49 AM
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07-14-2018, 11:52 AM
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iw172 (07-16-2018)
07-14-2018, 12:00 PM
#15
Safety Car
07-14-2018, 01:00 PM
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Well, I'm sorry, too about my cavalier (whoa, there's a car for ya) attitude. Truth be known, there was a cheaper version of the Mercury Grand Marquis (is that an oxymoron?) in my family. Well, to be honest, it was my dad's Ford Crown Victoria. He bought it new when he was 80. Loved them plush velour seats...like going down the road in a Barcalounger. He even let me drive it. Once. 
07-14-2018, 01:16 PM
#17
Drifting
07-14-2018, 05:53 PM
#19
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That piece of crap is mainly copper, with the cost of tooling and manufacturing, how could it ever be cheaper than a few ounces of lead and a cheap bolt like the standard ones had?
07-14-2018, 06:19 PM
#20
They got rid of the lead. I would say the design is by a supplier like Delphi which is now Aptiv.
So ponder this while thinking of stupid $hit we find on our cars. Torque to yield bolts. Although they use a computer controlled machine to tighten head bolts, before torque once, torque for a second time, and now torque for a third time. Now torque one time, turn to whatever degrees are required, DONE Minutes are big bucks on an assembly line.
So ponder this while thinking of stupid $hit we find on our cars. Torque to yield bolts. Although they use a computer controlled machine to tighten head bolts, before torque once, torque for a second time, and now torque for a third time. Now torque one time, turn to whatever degrees are required, DONE Minutes are big bucks on an assembly line.