• ironhydroxide@sh.itjust.works
    link
    fedilink
    English
    arrow-up
    85
    ·
    8 months ago

    Dealers will install a tube to let gasoline flow away from hot surfaces to the ground below the vehicle.

    Let’s just throw it on the ground, definitely a better solution than making sure it won’t leak

  • deegeese@sopuli.xyz
    link
    fedilink
    arrow-up
    64
    ·
    8 months ago

    They’re not fixing the leaks, they’re making the car detect when it starts spraying gasoline inside the engine compartment so it will enter limp mode before a fire starts.

    The driver can then push their disabled car to the side of the road, and assuming they weren’t killed in traffic, then Ford will replace the faulty injector.

  • jordanlund@lemmy.world
    link
    fedilink
    arrow-up
    51
    arrow-down
    1
    ·
    8 months ago

    "Now, should we initiate a recall? Take the number of vehicles in the field, A, multiply by the probable rate of failure, B, multiply by the average out-of-court settlement, C. A times B times C equals X. If X is less than the cost of a recall, we don’t do one.

    Woman on plane: Are there a lot of these kinds of accidents?

    Narrator: You wouldn’t believe.

    Woman on plane: Which car company do you work for?

    Narrator: A major one."

  • Flying Squid@lemmy.world
    link
    fedilink
    arrow-up
    40
    arrow-down
    11
    ·
    8 months ago

    You know what doesn’t leak gas from fuel injectors onto hot engine surfaces?

    EVs. Just saying.

    And yes, I know, you’ll show me videos of piece of shit Teslas catching fire, as if that makes such problems equal to something like this.

    • Shiggles@sh.itjust.works
      link
      fedilink
      arrow-up
      25
      arrow-down
      14
      ·
      8 months ago

      Battery fires are significantly worse than combustion engine fires, that’s not unique to Teslas. I like EVs but let’s not pretend they’re fireproof.

    • Semi-Hemi-Lemmygod@lemmy.world
      link
      fedilink
      English
      arrow-up
      16
      arrow-down
      8
      ·
      8 months ago

      A gasoline fire can be put out with about a thousand gallons of water. A lithium battery in an electric car can take 3,000-5,000 gallons of water to put out. There have been cases of wrecked Teslas reigniting at scrap yards weeks after they were destroyed.

      • Uranium3006@kbin.social
        link
        fedilink
        arrow-up
        9
        ·
        8 months ago

        they gotta start taking the batteries out of them before scrapping them, probably with mandatory recycling. also hot take all cars should have a public transit and protected bike lane tax applied to them

      • reddig33@lemmy.world
        link
        fedilink
        arrow-up
        9
        arrow-down
        1
        ·
        8 months ago

        You’d think we’d have a better solution for extinguishing this by now. Solid state batteries can’t get here fast enough.

        • Semi-Hemi-Lemmygod@lemmy.world
          link
          fedilink
          English
          arrow-up
          12
          ·
          8 months ago

          The same thing that makes lithium good for batteries also makes it good for burning for days at a time and reigniting randomly

          • __dev@lemmy.world
            link
            fedilink
            arrow-up
            3
            ·
            8 months ago

            That’s kinda true, in a sense that all batteries use a chemical reaction to generate electricity and a damaged battery can short and thus ignite arbitrarily. But there’s lithium-based batteries like LiFePo₄ that burn significantly less intensely if at all; and there’s lab-only chemistries that are non-flammable. So it’s not really because of the lithium specifically that they burn so well.

      • Noxy@yiffit.net
        link
        fedilink
        English
        arrow-up
        7
        ·
        8 months ago

        If EV fires take 3-5x as much water to put out, but ICE vehicles catch fire 30x more often as EVs, is that really so bad?

    • FuglyDuck@lemmy.world
      link
      fedilink
      English
      arrow-up
      7
      arrow-down
      4
      ·
      8 months ago

      Teslas are a bad example anyway.

      EVs are definitely the way to go here… just not a fucking tesla.

  • rem26_art@fedia.io
    link
    fedilink
    arrow-up
    15
    ·
    8 months ago

    ah yes. Ford and saving money and fires…

    The article says that this is an extension of a recall from 2022 for the same problem, and that Ford says replacement parts are available, but its odd to me that they wouldn’t just replace them. I guess we’re still on risk calculation vs people freaking over a known reason that their car could catch on fire

    • sepulcher
      link
      fedilink
      arrow-up
      11
      arrow-down
      2
      ·
      edit-2
      8 months ago

      Yes. Human lives are just another data point for these companies.

      If it’s cheaper to have people die than to make things safely, we all know what they’re going to do.

      The solution is to create penalties that outweigh the profits.

  • Null User Object@programming.dev
    link
    fedilink
    arrow-up
    14
    ·
    8 months ago

    Me (while reading about the “fix” in the article): That’s just a Band-aid!

    The article:

    Michael Brooks, executive director of the nonprofit Center for Auto Safety, called Ford’s remedy for the fuel leaks a “Band-aid type recall” and said the company is trying to avoid the cost of repairing the fuel injectors.

    Me: That’s what I just said!

  • madcaesar@lemmy.world
    link
    fedilink
    arrow-up
    3
    ·
    8 months ago

    Do not buy American cars.

    I honestly don’t know the reason, but they have made hot garbage for over 2 decades.

    The interiors look like prison cells and the QA is nonexistent.

  • Ultragigagigantic@lemmy.world
    link
    fedilink
    arrow-up
    2
    ·
    edit-2
    8 months ago

    Does widdle baby American corporations need the bail out bottle?

    Smells like no one changed the diaper after decades of the US auto industry sitting it’s pants.

  • skuzz@discuss.tchncs.de
    link
    fedilink
    arrow-up
    2
    ·
    8 months ago

    GM had a recall on their Epsilon extended platform that didn’t fix the problem either. Wires would corrode due to no seals and proximity to HVAC. Safety systems would go off line, brake lights would get stuck on. A Colorado woman actually drove off a mountain because of this defect.

    Still not fixed to this day, as the correct fix would involve replacing a computer module in millions of cars with one that has a weathertight interface. US automakers always get the laziest of passes.