Mazda to destroy almost 5000 cars

[Joe771476]

You might have heard about that ship that tilted to its side a few months ago. Well it was loaded with Mazdas! Rescuers saved the ship from sinking and the cars themselves did not get wet! But Mazda wasn't sure what effects the tilting of the cars at such an angle would have on the inernal workings of the engines and was afraid of future lawsuits that might result! Hell! I'll sign a waiver; just give me the car! DUMB! Where's Mulhaly? Doesn't he have a say?

[JETSOLVER]

Potential Warranty claims far exceed the possible profit from something like this. Proffessional insurance people have obviously decided that its just not worth the potential guff.

 

Good Call I say, as we all know that misreported info can kill a good quality record faster than the facts...

[Michael Reynolds]

You might have heard about that ship that tilted to its side a few months ago. Well it was loaded with Mazdas! Rescuers saved the ship from sinking and the cars themselves did not get wet! But Mazda wasn't sure what effects the tilting of the cars at such an angle would have on the inernal workings of the engines and was afraid of future lawsuits that might result! Hell! I'll sign a waiver; just give me the car! DUMB! Where's Mulhaly? Doesn't he have a say?

 

Yeah and the minute one of these cars makes it out into the general market, and it is full of defects who pays the price? Mazda. If you want to blame someone, blame sue happy consumers.

 

I for one think it was spot on for Mazda to pursue it this way.

[theoldwizard]

... Where's Mulhaly? Doesn't he have a say?

Take a buisness class.

 

Ford only owns about 30% of Mazda.

 

No, Mulally does NOT have a say !

 

BTW, learn how to spell than man's name !

[RichardJensen]

1) Mulally does have a say.

 

2) He'd be a dang lousy CEO if he busied himself with overruling his subordinates over matters such as this

 

3) You wouldn't pay full price for such a vehicle, in fact, the odds are pretty slim that Mazda would be able to turn a profit on these vehicles at retail, let alone the insistent questions and rumors that would dog every single vehicle subsequently sold, (e.g., "My car has a funny tick in the engine. I think it was on that boat. I'm suing Mazda, I'm writing my congressman, I'm going to complain on the internet").

 

Forget selling these things. Junk 'em.

Edited May 7, 2008 by RichardJensen

[rmc523]

Potential Warranty claims far exceed the possible profit from something like this. Proffessional insurance people have obviously decided that its just not worth the potential guff.

 

Good Call I say, as we all know that misreported info can kill a good quality record faster than the facts...

 

I agree that it's a good call/decision.

Edited May 7, 2008 by rmc523

[dfs]

Junking may not mean what you think. Often vehicles like these are donated to trade schools where they can be used to train future mechanics. They won't be driven but can have a purpose and provide value beyond their scrap price.

 

So, rather than taking production vehicles that could be sold to donate to the schools, they can substitute vehicles like these that can't be sold. Same result for the schools.

[8A4RE]

Junking may not mean what you think. Often vehicles like these are donated to trade schools where they can be used to train future mechanics. They won't be driven but can have a purpose and provide value beyond their scrap price.

 

So, rather than taking production vehicles that could be sold to donate to the schools, they can substitute vehicles like these that can't be sold. Same result for the schools.

 

OH, OH, Let me have them! I have a use for them! :happy feet: :happy feet: :happy feet:

[Michael Reynolds]

Junking may not mean what you think. Often vehicles like these are donated to trade schools where they can be used to train future mechanics. They won't be driven but can have a purpose and provide value beyond their scrap price.

 

So, rather than taking production vehicles that could be sold to donate to the schools, they can substitute vehicles like these that can't be sold. Same result for the schools.

 

Well they were insured so it's sort of moot. Besides schools have violated agreements before, and who's to say they wouldn't with these vehicles.

[jpd80]

The incident was two years ago, imagine salt water attack by now?

I wouldn't want one of them

 

Mazda To Destroy $100 Million Worth Of Brand New Cars

LINK

Two years ago the freighter Cougar Ace nearly sank, spending weeks bobbing at an impossible-looking angle in the North Atlantic. The cargo was eventually saved (you can read about the salvage effort here), but what does one do with cars that have spent weeks at sea? Can you be sure that they weren't damaged?

 

The Wall Street Journal says that Mazda had lots of potential buyers. Movie studios wanted to use them as stunt cars. High schools wanted them for auto shop classes. In the end, Mazda decided to destroy them. All of them.

 

From the Wall Street Journal:

 

Mazda turned everyone away. It worried about getting sued someday if, say, an air-bag failed to fire properly due to overexposure to salty sea air.

 

It also worried that scammers might find a way to spirit the cars abroad to sell as new. That happened to thousands of so-called "Katrina cars" salvaged from New Orleans' flooding three years ago. Those cars — their electronics gone haywire and sand in the engines — were given a paint job and unloaded in Latin America on unsuspecting buyers, damaging auto makers' reputations.

 

Mazda saw no easy way to guard against these outcomes. So it decided to destroy approximately $100 million worth of factory-new automobiles. "We couldn't run the risk of damaging the brand name that Mazda worked so hard over the years to develop," says Jeremy Barnes, the company's corporate-affairs director for North America.

 

It turns out that wrecking cars isn't a simple matter. "We had to create a disassembly line, basically," says Bob Turbett, the Mazda executive overseeing the destruction process.

[ANTAUS]

So if the issue is because the cars where inclined in a specific way, what about all those mega dealerships that have their cars sitting inclined in parking garages till they sell? Are they junk too ?

[8A4RE]

"For more than a year, the 4,703 Cougar Ace Mazdas sit in a huge parking lot in Portland, Oregon. Then, in February 2008, the cars are loaded one by one onto an 8-foot-wide conveyor belt. It lifts them 40 feet and drops them inside a Texas Shredder, a 50-foot-tall, hulking blue-and-yellow machine that sits on a 2.5-acre concrete pad. Inside the machine, 26 hammers — weighing 1,000 pounds each — smash each car into fist-sized pieces in two seconds. The chunks are then spit out the back side. Though most of the cars appeared to be unharmed, they had spent two weeks at a 60-degree angle. Mazda can't be sure that something isn't wrong with them. Will the air bags function properly? Will the engines work flawlessly throughout the warranty period? Rather than risk lawsuits down the line, Mazda has decided to scrap the entire shipment."

[Michael Reynolds]

So if the issue is because the cars where inclined in a specific way, what about all those mega dealerships that have their cars sitting inclined in parking garages till they sell? Are they junk too ?

 

Well who knows what forces they were subject to, plus they were at sea exposed to elements that cars simply don't see for an extended period of time during sea transport.

[RichardJensen]

They were hoisted 40' and dropped into a 50' tall shredder? How does that work?

[rmc523]

They were hoisted 40' and dropped into a 50' tall shredder? How does that work?

 

Oh, it just does.......nobody knows how, but it does.

[P71_CrownVic]

This is the most retarded thing I have ever heard. Because the cars tilted a little bit, they are junking them.

 

There is no explaining some companies. They just make you hold your head.

 

[TomServo92]

This is the most retarded thing I have ever heard. Because the cars tilted a little bit, they are junking them.

 

There is no explaining some companies. They just make you hold your head.

 

 

Ya know, if they had decided to sell them, I suspect this is what your response would have been:

 

This is the most retarded thing I have ever heard. Because the cars just tilted a little bit, they think they're OK to sell.

 

There is no explaining some companies. They just make you hold your head.

 

Edited May 7, 2008 by TomServo92

[Roadrunner]

I think they should use them for destructo derbies, but that would be bad PR.

[RichardJensen]

Ya know, if they had decided to sell them, I suspect this is what your response would have been:

Just missed it again. That too was dang near 'POTW'.

[Mark B. Morrow]

I would expect the shipment was insured if the ship went down or the cars were physically destroyed. The policy would likely cover the cars if they were deemed unfit for sale. Stuff happens on these ships. I remember a load of Volvos went down last year.

[battyr]

You might have heard about that ship that tilted to its side a few months ago. Well it was loaded with Mazdas! Rescuers saved the ship from sinking and the cars themselves did not get wet! But Mazda wasn't sure what effects the tilting of the cars at such an angle would have on the inernal workings of the engines and was afraid of future lawsuits that might result! Hell! I'll sign a waiver; just give me the car! DUMB! Where's Mulhaly? Doesn't he have a say?

 

I would think the ships owner would be liable and their insurance should pay for the value of the cars.

[battyr]

Take a buisness class.

 

Ford only owns about 30% of Mazda.

 

No, Mulally does NOT have a say !

 

BTW, learn how to spell than man's name !

 

Under Japanese law, if you are the largest share holder, and own more than something like 20% of the shares, then you have total control.

 

I also believe there is another law that says if Ford owns 50% then Mazda because a foreign company and has to pay a higher level of corportate income tax.

[MERKURXR4Ti]

I would think the ships owner would be liable and their insurance should pay for the value of the cars.

 

I'm pretty sure that's the situation, I don't think it costs Mazda a bit.

[armadamaster]

This is the most retarded thing I have ever heard. Because the cars tilted a little bit, they are junking them.

 

There is no explaining some companies. They just make you hold your head.

 

 

+1

 

Somewhere there is a Hertz fleet manager sobbing quietly.....

 

[Michael Reynolds]

I would expect the shipment was insured if the ship went down or the cars were physically destroyed. The policy would likely cover the cars if they were deemed unfit for sale. Stuff happens on these ships. I remember a load of Volvos went down last year.

 

Yupped also happened to some E92 M cars too.

 

If Mazda were to sell these things, people would be hunting and searching to find things wrong. Next thing you know there is a class action lawsuit.

 

I'm sure the insurance company and Mazda knew very well what they were doing. These cars would simply be a ticking time bomb from a customer relations standpoint. Then Mazda ends up with a battered image, a customer buy back program, the possibility of a class-action lawsuit and non-disclosure when the vehicles are sold re-sold to their second owners. Just not worth it.

 

A 60 degree list for a month is a lot more than being tilted for a little bit.