Audi and 60 minutes
#1
03-22-2007, 12:29 AM
Audi and 60 minutes
In a recent s post a response asked "what sham story?" to a joke about Audi Pedal Placement so for those of you who do not know of this story here it is;
On November 23, 1986, 60 Minutes aired a segment greenlit by Don Hewitt, concerning the Audi 5000. The story concerned a number of incidents where the car purportedly accelerated without warning while parked, injuring or killing people. This arose after a mother ran over her child with her car and blamed it on the Audi spontaneously accelerating even though her foot was on the brake pedal. 60 Minutes was unable to duplicate this behavior, and so hired an outside consultant to modify the transmission to behave in this manner and even attached small rockets to the bottom of the car in order to cause it to accelerate once activated. Theythen aired a story about it.
The incident devastated Audi sales in the United States, which did not reach the same level for another fifteen years and nearly forced Audi to withdraw from the North American market. The initial incidents which prompted the report were found by the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration and Transport Canada to have been attributable to operator error, where car owners had depressed the accelerator pedal instead of the brake pedal. The brake a and accelerator pedals were placed in the same position as they would be for a manual transmission car and no the way that American automakers typically design automatic transmission pedals which are placed farther away and with an enlarged brake pedal. CBS issued a partial retraction, without acknowledging the test results of involved government agencies.Although Audi would be found not liable in court and would win multiple lawsuits against the sensationalistic show their reputation for safety would be forever tarnished even though the company ranks second behind Volvo in all-time safety. Luckily because of the response "What Sham Story?" people may heave finally forgotten. The should not however forget the yellow journalism of the show which the still do today. Look at their stories their all about stirring up cfontroversy and fear in order to boost ratings.
On November 23, 1986, 60 Minutes aired a segment greenlit by Don Hewitt, concerning the Audi 5000. The story concerned a number of incidents where the car purportedly accelerated without warning while parked, injuring or killing people. This arose after a mother ran over her child with her car and blamed it on the Audi spontaneously accelerating even though her foot was on the brake pedal. 60 Minutes was unable to duplicate this behavior, and so hired an outside consultant to modify the transmission to behave in this manner and even attached small rockets to the bottom of the car in order to cause it to accelerate once activated. Theythen aired a story about it.
The incident devastated Audi sales in the United States, which did not reach the same level for another fifteen years and nearly forced Audi to withdraw from the North American market. The initial incidents which prompted the report were found by the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration and Transport Canada to have been attributable to operator error, where car owners had depressed the accelerator pedal instead of the brake pedal. The brake a and accelerator pedals were placed in the same position as they would be for a manual transmission car and no the way that American automakers typically design automatic transmission pedals which are placed farther away and with an enlarged brake pedal. CBS issued a partial retraction, without acknowledging the test results of involved government agencies.Although Audi would be found not liable in court and would win multiple lawsuits against the sensationalistic show their reputation for safety would be forever tarnished even though the company ranks second behind Volvo in all-time safety. Luckily because of the response "What Sham Story?" people may heave finally forgotten. The should not however forget the yellow journalism of the show which the still do today. Look at their stories their all about stirring up cfontroversy and fear in order to boost ratings.
#2
03-22-2007, 01:00 AM
RE: Audi and 60 minutes
There was a similary infamous report on Dateline NBC concerning the rupture of the saddle tanks on GM pickups in the early 90's
From Wikipedia.....
From Wikipedia.....
In automotive applications, improper placement of the fuel tank has led to increased probability of fire in collisions. Circa 1990, General Motors faced over a hundred lawsuits related to fires allegedly caused by GM's decision to place the fuel tanks in its pickup trucks outside the protection of the vehicle's frame [1]. In 1993, as one of these lawsuits resulted in a US$101 million judgement against GM (later overturned), the television show Dateline NBC created its own controversy by staging an example of the failures. When it was discovered that Dateline's consultants had rigged the truck with incendiary devices in order to guarantee a fire, GM filed a defamation suit, and several NBC employees were fired.
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