Comments on: Precision is not expensive

By: Handle

Handle — Thu, 25 Jul 2024 16:27:56 +0000

Affordable repairability of the kind of damage cars tend to receive from accidents has not been in the economic interests of manufacturers for a long time, being something they can pass on to the insurance industry which can pass on the costs easier due to mandatory coverage. The typical body shop price to get even minor cosmetic dings and scratches fixed has exploded in recent years, far above even the plentiful examples from all those “The Inflation Is Real” memes. I see a lot more purportedly “affluent” people just accepting the ugliness and driving around that way with the expectation that they were going to drive the thing until the end of its life anyway.

By: Roo_ster

Roo_ster — Tue, 23 Jul 2024 17:59:24 +0000

Mack has it right. Being able to replace/service automobile bits comes in handy if you take them on the road.

Sykes perhaps has little experience with contemporary German automobiles. Absolute trash, reliability & repair-wise. That reasonably-priced German sedan with 50k miles? Run from it in financial terror. Nothing like the German autos I owned in the 1980s.

By: David Foster

David Foster — Tue, 23 Jul 2024 15:08:13 +0000

There's a good book, American Steel, about the early days of Nucor and their pioneering installation of the first continuous casting machine in a US steel mill.

By: Bob Sykes

Bob Sykes — Tue, 23 Jul 2024 13:22:32 +0000

The difference between high quality German and Japanese consumer products and mediocre American and Chinese consumer products is the German/Japanese culture vs. the American/Chinese culture.

By: M. Mack

M. Mack — Tue, 23 Jul 2024 12:21:00 +0000

Except that a large, one piece casting has to be completely replaced when damaged (the structural integrity will be compromised, or it might even be completely broken) whereas a assembly made of sheet metal welded and stamped together can be, within reasonable tolerances, pulled back into shape in a body shop.

Elon needs to remember toy cars don’t go out on the road and get hit by other toy cars at 20, 30, 40 or more MPH.