CAT | Autos
For some odd reason, I find it funny how different car manufacturers warn you of things like low tire pressure, low fuel, etc.
In my old Murano the designers felt that the most important warning was when your tire pressure was 5psi or more lower than it should. (Which happens often in MN.) The car would emit a loud warning tone for 10 seconds when this happens and then repeat it for every tire that was low. I often spent the first 30 seconds in my car trying to figure out which three tires needed air. Thankfully Nitrogen fixed that problem.
In our RX the low fuel warning is a tiny yellow dot that lights up and is positioned in a place that is easy to never see. However, the low washer fluid warning gets a large icon (slightly bigger than the big green turn signal icon), flashing notification AND a spot that’s easily seen on your dash. You might run out of gas, but you’ll be able to see everything in front of you when it happens!
Then there’s my car. The designers here opted to give you a series of warnings. First, the icon on your gas gauge lights up. Then you get a warning on the center display telling you you are on “reserve” fuel. Eventually, they stop you from being able to access all of the car’s features and replace them with the reserve fuel warning. If you still haven’t addressed the fuel situation, they resort back to pictures like the one below which essentially says “Dude! If you want to keep using me, you’re going to have to give me something to drink!”
Makes me wonder what our new car will start doing…
Wait a minute. GM, Nissan and Renault … all merging together in a sort of auto-soup?! Really?! That’s… that’s … that’s a sign of the times.
It’s interesting to me that today we celebrate Independance Day, a day when American pride is at an all-time high. As it should be. We have a lot to be proud of. But I think some of our biggest accomplishments aren’t seen unless you LEAVE the country.
Americana is one of the biggest imports in countries everywhere, even though lots of them don’t really care for us at the moment. The very principles behind America (democracy, free enterprise, capitalism) are proliferating around the globe and causing countries to find amazing abilities to grow and prosper by adopting some, or all, of these ideas. Take China for example. A communist nation that embraces American style of business to a large degree. What major company ISN’T going to, or already in, China right now?! It wasn’t that long ago that we were building weapons to possibly go to war against another major communist country. Now, we can’t put our businesses in another one fast enough!
So back to Gissault. (See what I did there? GM + Nissan + Renault = Gissault) The fact is that GM, Ford and to lesser extent Chrysler, our (former) big 3 American auto makers are in trouble. I won’t go into details about why here, but they need help. For some time, all 3 of these guys have manufactured cars overseas, or acuqired other foreign manufacturers or partnered with one (the first 2-door Ford Explorer was also the Mazda Navajo, for example).
I think that’s great. I went from owning a 100% American car, to one that was probably 60% American, then to one that was a Japanese car, largely made in America, then to one made 99% in Germany (the wheels are put on in the US). Now, I simply don’t car. I want a great car design, great quality, excellent safety and great customer service for a good value. That’s the formula for success. Note that no where in there is a brand listed or a manufacturing location. — Which is why Toyota is such a success. They’ve figured out that most Americans want those same things as well, so they focus on them. (Yes, you could make the case for having “good” design, not “great” design.)
Again, back to Gissault. Maybe this partnership/ownership/pseudo-acquisition will be the magic forumla needed to make GM (and Renault) successful. As a Nissan owner, I’m a bit concerned that the weight of the other two brands may bring them down as well (especially since they’ve done SUCH a great job of reviving the brand in a short period of time). — But as a Toyota/Lexus owner, I’m confident that I’ll always have another alternative.
Wrapping up… I’m proud to be an American. I just wish more of us would leave the country from time to time and see how great of a place this is AND how there are other places, people and ideas that are also great. Maybe we should start importing more ideas from outside America. Business have started to with things like “Kaizan events” and “Lean Manufacturing” – both ideas that weren’t invented here! — I just hope we, as a planet, can figure this out without the plot of “Independance Day” the movie happening to make it a reality.
Anyway. Have a Rockin’ 4th. If you can’t make it out to see fireworks, be sure to stop by my other blog to set off your own.
