Auto Competition
Intro
When an auto manufacturer needs to cut costs it will sometimes look for help from another manufacturer. This process results in a merging between companies in order to benefit one another. Companies may merge to be cost efficient or even to gain entry into another market segment. Either way, manufacturers try to gain instant results by merging.
Auto manufacturers compete with each other to give consumers the state of the art safety systems that they demand. Parents are becoming more concerned about their family's safety with the lifesaving abilities of airbags. Consumers are looking at airbags as a very important option when making a vehicle purchasing decision. Not only must the automobile come equipped with one, but consumers also want a way to disengage the passenger side of the system if needed for children and infants.
Description of Industry
In the 1960's, automotive safety began with a man by the name of Ralph Nader. In November of 1965 Nader wrote Unsafe at Any Speed: The Designed-in Dangers of the American Automobile. The target of this book was General Motors' Corvair Nader claimed the rear suspension was faulty and made it possible to skid violently and roll over (Bollier). After Nader made the public aware of safety concerns, automotive manufacturers started putting items such as power disk brakes as standard equipment on new automobiles. GM started impact testing and designed side beam guards in the late 1960's (General Motors website).
Nader's continued crusading into the 1970's made GM realize that it had to be proactive in the safety movement. The result of the movement was designing an airbag in 1973. Volvo had already introduced the airbag in 1972 on its 240/260 series (Volvo History). Companies, realizing that Nader was not going to be disappearing anytime, soon decided to look for suppliers that were safety conscious. Automotive manufacturers began buying safety glass, which reduced injuries from large glass shards in accidents. The introduction of the steel belted tires reduced the amount of tire blowouts, which can lead to rollovers.
In the 1980's the public started to listen and jump onto Nader's bandwagon. The public was demanding automobiles equipped with life saving safety features. GM introduced the rear lap/shoulder belt in 1986 as standard equipment. Also in 1986 Volvo introduced a detachable seat for children up to the age of four.
If GM or other U.S. auto manufacturers fail, there will be greater opportunity for new entrants into the U.S. automotive sales industry. For these reasons, all manufacturers including GM that sell autos in the U.S. should continue to use a cooperative game theory strategy to ensure the industry recovers.
Two best friends are torn apart. A man meticulously plots revenge on the person who got the job he was dying for. A nation is full of rage and fear because another country beat them in the race to walk on the moon. Sadly, all of these situations were caused by one thing, competition. In Alfie Kohn’s essay, “Competition Is Destructive”, he describes competition as having a “toxic effect on our relationships”(11). Although competition has many positive effects in this world, when talking specifically about relationships, whether it be between best friends, two strangers, or even entire nations, it fuels negative feelings and attitudes that transform people into monsters.
As with many things, breakthrough of any kind can be traced back to a mistake or a situation forcing people to think things through differently. The modern suspension of today’s vehicle is made of different components including those due to different circumstances. According to Motorera.com, a car crash that occurred when Alanson Brush’s brother wrecked his car, forced Alanson to rethink the suspension on the vehicle in order to make sure it could not happen again. Therefore he came up with the idea to add front coil springs along with shock absorbers. This was unheard of at the time and
In the late 1920’s, school buses and larger industrial vehicles became a popular source of transportation that started from Ford dealership owner, A.L. Luce. Luce had plans to extend the school bus frame (from a Model T) to accompany more students per one bus. As school buses and city buses became more common throughout America’s cities for daily transportation, safety regulations and precautions were put in place. Safety features, including flashing caution lights, visors outside of the vehicle, and motorized stop signs and stop arms were all installed within the next 80 years to make the journey to and from school safer. Although many of these precautions were taken, many citizens believe that not enough action was taken to promote safety on school buses. Because a variety of school bus companies do not have a stance on whether seatbelts should be installed or not, the safety concerns mainly impact parents and school leaders. A good solution for many of those concerned would be the installation of seatbelts on every school bus within the United States, but the reality of seatbelts being on buses is quite the opposite of what people believe. Seatbelts are not the justification to these safety issues concerning school corporations and parents nationwide, as the seatbelts are a costly and dangerous factor.
The desire for self-preservation is present in all people; this is why SUV safety is such a huge issue. “Ask a typic...
Is there in the world anything more essential than having a new opportunity of life? Although several individuals may possibly think an obligatory use of seat belt is a technique for causing people to feel a prisoner in their own car, putting on a seat belt would make the difference in a car accident. The use of seat belts provides security while driving; shows self-consciousness and has a role in government. That is why, the use of seat belts should be mandatory for drivers.
Current seat belt law originated from federal legislation in the 1960s that made it mandatory for all automobile manufacturers to include seat belts in their vehicles as a standard feature. Originally, the purpose of a seat belt was not to protect the occupants in the case of a crash, but rather to physically keep them in the vehicle, as driving was bumpy business.
Car accidents are the leading cause of death for people under the age of 35. Wearing a seat belt can prevent death in about half of these accidents. Did you know that every 15 seconds someone is injured in an automobile accident if they are not buckled up, or that every 13 minutes someone is killed in a crash. Failure to wear a seat belt contributes to more fatalities than any other single traffic safety related behavior. According to the National Highway Traffic and Safety Administration seatbelts saved nearly 12,000 lives in the United States in the year 2000. The NHTSA estimates that more than 9,000 U.S. car accident fatalities in 2000 would have been avoided if the victims had been wearing seatbelts. Sixty three percent of the people killed in accidents were not wearing seat belts. The NHTSA a...
The Supreme Court did not stop there, they continued to add more laws. “.new motor vehicles produced after September 1982 will be equipped with passive restraints to protect the safety of the occupants of the vehicle in the event of a collision” (Supreme Court). Now all new motor vehicles must have a form of passive restraint added to their vehicles before they can sell them to the public. The government hoped to protect more lives of young drivers who did not insist on wearing seat belts by making them mandatory and enforced by police officers. Since 1972, hundreds of thousands of teenage lives have been saved with this simple safety feature.
To conclude, the new safety innovations are still in use and are saving drivers lives day after day. Before these innovations were in use many drivers died each month. Now we have less drivers dieing because of these innovations. Although, these safety items are not mentioned frequently, they are aways in use on the race track. If it weren’t for the years of advancement in the safety of auto racing we might not have any drivers left to race.
The journey from that idea and the airbags that we have now has been very long. Today, airbags are a necessary in every car and are designed to act as an extra safety device aside of seat belts. But a lot of people are looking quite sceptical at the air bag safety, because there was a lot of accidents where the airbag didn’t react or it did react, but it didn’t help but killed the driver or the passenger. Since 1991 there was 238 counted just because of air
There is a massive amount of car accidents that occur every day, that consequently become fatal. In many cases, the driver and the passengers do not have on a seat belt to prevent them from being thrown out of the car or colliding with another car, causing them to be thrown against the dashboard or some other tragic accident. Some people may think, “Wearing a seatbelt isn’t cool”, “I’m only going down the street” or sometimes just irresponsibly forget to put on their seatbelt when they are inside of a vehicle. You may think that wearing a seatbelt is not trendy and you are only making a quick trip going down the street to the corner store, however, you cannot control others actions on the road anything can happen in the blink of an eye.
One of the very first things a buyer should consider when looking for a car is what kind of car he/she wants. Many different factors can affect the car buying process. For one, the buyer must consider how big of a vehicle he/she wants and safety features like airbags, seatbelts, and working brakes. Itemizing a list of accessories can also help narrow down what kind of car to buy. While some people might prefer a Sedan with a large back seat and seat warmers, others may prefer an extreme luxury car with full stereo systems and miniature televisions. Every person has different tastes in accessories; luckily, there is a vehicle that can fit almost every personality. Most new models have the latest technology installed, although some of the “newer” used cars have the option of adding in those accessories. Once the...
After a period of continuing growth, the stagnant sales growth of the automotive industry in the late 1970s led all car makers to start to look for methods to fit the new climate. With the purpose of using money on research and development more effectively, spreading the risk of making main components in greater volume, and accessing to new market which were hard to enter, more and more automobile producers reached to the conclusion of collaborating with others. In addition, to remain independent, joint venture seemed to be the best answer. (Campbell, Stonehouse & Houston 2002)
In 1949, an American car company known as Nash, offered the two-point seat belts in their vehicles, ...