Good points. I think that statement I highlighted is one that everyone can agree on, and will be taken in one of 2 ways:
1)
OMG! WTF! That looks ridiculous!
2)
The only problem with it is its appearance, which is ridiculous.
Based on my understanding of the situation, the problem at GM was they noticed an unreasonable brake vibration just prior to production. The solution to this problem is to add weight to the caliper. Proper weights could not be made before production began. So while working on a permanent solution, they had 3 possible courses of action in the mean time: delay, let them make noise, band-aid. The band-aid solution was chosen, and I think most here would agree thats the best choice out of the three.
Obviously everyone (including GM) would prefer the car to be perfect in every single way from day 1. That will
never happen with
any car
ever. If its not one thing its another. Should anyone simply be happy with things? No. Its good to not simply settle for poor quality. But its also bad to have unrealistic expectations. If GM had found this problem earlier, they would have had it fixed before production. Maybe something else had changed which caused the problem to appear when it was too late. It happens all the time, the fix for A causes problem B, the fix for B causes problem C, etc. Such is the world of engineering. Nobody has to like it, but it would be helpful if people at least understood it.