TRAKCAR

http://www.motorauthority.com/news/1...ire-in-germany

Clocked

German car manufactures must have a major investment in a fire extingusher company. The cost of the option keeps on increasing.

Let's see in the last month or so, Porsche (GT3) VW (could say same company same bad engineers) and now MB (maybe Porsche and VW fired their engineers and they now work for MB)

Just an observation and to add some levity to the situation. Thank fully as we know so far nobody had been hurt.

Jimmy-D

You do got to hand it to Porsche. Two fires, a thorough investigation, and 785 new engines that they probably did not have to do. I know this has been frustrating to all but we will get great engines that you can drive hard confidently. My only gripe has been the crappy communication and the unfairness between Countries and people on their compensation packages.. You can argue that they did not have to do this or that but they went down the road and it was handled poorly. hopefully they can get it all straightened out

ShakeNBake

MB is such a me too company Something alluring about cars that could catch fire at any moment.

kosmo

dont forget GM's new Large SUV.


whats next standard fire supression systems?

Tacet-Conundrum

Remember, this all started with Ferrari 458 not too long ago.

Clocked

Tacet: If you keep up with the news. The Ferrari fire was due to glue used for insulation in the wheel well. Had nothing to do with the heart of the car - THE ENGINE. Porsche has that distinction with the GT3.

Mike in CA

True in the case you mention, although it took Ferrari 3 months and at least 10 burned cars to even admit there was a problem.

What you don't mention is that in 2012 Fiat recalled certain 2011 and 2012 458s for incorrectly machined crankshafts which caused at least one engine seizure and crash. Unlike adhesive in wheel arch assemblies, the crankshaft IS at the heart of the car. Just sayin', it happens to the best of them....

carcommander

All true but they figured out the machining problem affected about 100 cars. Sent out new engines and had them installed. Case closed. I am a Porsche guy but Ferrari handled this much better than Porsche.

Every business has problems, its what you do about them. Fix them fast. This is a comedy.

Several people on this board have had 150K cars they are not supposed to drive for at least 6 months waiting on a new engine that they don't know when they will get. For a car that may or may not prove reliable.

Clocked

Thanks car commander. The truth is in the fix and follow up and how you deal with a problem. Porsche gets a F-

Think about how other companies respond to a problem and how they treat those effected customers. If any of you think Porsche is doing a great job or even a good job you must have had a lot of bad experiences in your life with other companies.

This is nothing short of complete mismangement and mis truths. I have emails from Porsche that are complete contradictions which highlight the left side has no idea what the right side is doing. This is a company I am very skeptical about all information we are told. It's not the dealers fault they are being told misinformation. One example in an email Tim Quinn in charge of the Gt3 issue said the production reports I get from my dealer have not been updated. Why didn't he tell the dealers this?

Mike in CA

Look, I'm not defending Porsche's lack of communication, inequitable compensation schemes, and other failures during this fiasco. There is plenty of blame to spread around. I'm just saying that we ought to keep the facts straight, just as we are asking Porsche to keep their facts straight.

On the fire issue, at least 10 Ferraris burned to the ground. There were 2 Porsches. Ferrari took 3 months to even acknowledge there was a problem. I wouldn't call that a fast fix. Porsche responded in less than 30 days.

On the 458 engine issue, Ferrari offered to repair by disassembling them and replacing crankshafts and bearings at dealerships or at Ferrari North America. There was no offer, AFAIK, to replace complete engines as Porsche is doing. Imagine the hue and cry if Porsche had chosen to rebuild the suspect GT3 motors. And it's not like the Ferrari problem was resolved overnight. It also took time.

I'm just trying to be fair, not absolve Porsche. BTW, with respect to how other companies do things I suppose those of us who don't own Toyota or GM cars should be grateful. When it comes to responding to customer safety issues, they have set a pretty high bar for malfeasance.

-eztrader-

The ferrari fire fix took a day.

Mike in CA

I assume that means it took a day to do the actual fix, but it kind of misses the point. Given that the first fires occurred in June 2010 and a recall wasn't even announced, much less implemented, until September 1, clearly the entire process didn't take a day. Once the car is in the shop, the GT3 engine replacement is also supposed to take a day, not that that means anything at all.

-eztrader-

It does not miss the point.

Total days of ownership not allowed to drive the car because of recall = 1 day.

Mike in CA

The point is, we were talking about how a company responds to problems, and Ferrari allowed customers to drive their cars for 3 months, during which time additional cars caught fire, before admitting there was an issue. I'd rather have had the company respond faster, and been told not to drive the car sooner, but that's just me.

Also, are you saying customers were allowed to continue driving their cars after the recall, but before the actual repair? Doesn't seem very responsible, unless the fix was complete on day 1 of the recall....