Quote:
Originally Posted by Captain Awesome
Well, you have to consider this IS a manual. There must be some level of competence implied by the fact that the driver is driving a stick, right? I know EXACTLY what you're saying about these lawsuit-lotto idiots out there suing over hot coffee and such, but think of it this way... what's the difference between switching AFM on manually at the wrong time and say, downshifting into 1st gear at 90MPH? I think they can be safe from lawsuits under that scenario, right?
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And sadly I am sure someone out there has tried that as well.
Like I said, I think you do have a good idea, I just don’t see GM risk management (read Lawyers) allowing something like that to happen. Imagine this scenario. They implement this system and some person figures out how to bypass the system so that they can engage AFM any time they like by throwing the switch. So this person is driving down the freeway with AFM engaged and a semi (let’s just say it’s out of control for these purposes) comes screaming up on them. Now in their panic they forget to turn off AFM and they are unable to accelerate fast enough to get out of the way since only half the cylinders are on. The impact ends up killing the driver. Now their estate turns around and sues GM because the car was only capable of making 1/3 the advertised power at the time because AFM was engaged when it was not supposed to (even though the individual purposely disabled the interlocks since they are not alive to testify it would be the word of the “expert” the estate could easily find against GM). Sadly because of our messed up court system GM would most likely lose that case and they would have to pay out millions in damages to the estate, plus millions more in the forced recall that would be likely as part of the settlement agreement. And because of nonsense like that a good idea like yours will unfortunately never make it off the concept board, which sucks but is a sad reality of the society we live in today.