Re: Unintended Acceleration

[John Coffey <jfoxhunt@ix.netcom.com>]

gregsj@mail.imm.com wrote:
> 
> Fellow Audians: It is Road & Track's 50th Anniversary this year.
> They've been covering their automotive history by decades. The April
> 1997 issue covers the 1980's. Part of the article reads as follows:
> 
> "Had it not been so serious, the Audi "sudden acceleration" episode of
> the Eighties would have been laughable. Instead it led to panic among
> large segments of this country's driving public and also to Audi's
> sales plummeting from 74,000 in 1985 to just over 12,000 in 1991. Audi
> was accused and convicted by a group of headline-seeking television
> personalities most notable those on the CBS show 60 Minutes. That
> there was no connection between the accelerative and decelerative
> systems of the cars, or that the reported condition could never be
> reproduced in tests, had no effect. When the government finally
> announced that its investigation showed the cause to be driver error,
> sometimes known as "pedal" error, the complaints dropped almost to
> zero."
> 
> "What the manufacturers -- not only Audi -- had known all along was
> that the complaints generally fell into two categories: attempted
> insurance fraud (taking advantage of the climate of the times) or
> driver error. Kinesiologists place this in the same category as touch
> the wrong key on a telephone or computer -- only with more disastrous
> results. The driver's reaction, in many instances, was a psychological
> rejection of any wrong doing on their part--to the point where they
> could pass a lie detector test."
> 
> OK, so I'm a little hung-up on this particular issue. I promise to get
> over it by the turn of the century. To this day, I wish Audi had sued
> SeeBS. GregJ.
Greg,
I am like you a little hung up on it still...and I wish Audi had
sued..but what really pisses me off today is the way the media by
indirect refence will not let the issue go..
example: (this is one of hundreds available)...
Automobile Mag.(rag)that arrive in the mail two days ago dated 4/97
headlines a very positive report on the A-4 "An Audi someone besides
Mike Wallace can get excited about" 
that makes me so furious I boil with hate at those people at Automobile
- it is just plain stupid for them to keep these false charges of
unintended acc.alive in the public's eye ..they think they are so
smart....did you know that they NEVER wrote a report on the S-4 or
S-6?...they think and write that they are Automobile enthusiasts....I
think they are a bunch of ...XXXXXXXX.
While knocking Automobile, in the same issue they write about the A-8..
the name of that article is "out of the Haze"....and they as
"Can Audi and Infinit find a palce in the shrinking Luxury-car market?"
If they were truely interested in sharing information on a great car
like the A-8 ...the headline should have been "if you think you want a 
BMW 740 or MB XXX, better check out the A-8 Quattro first"....to mix
this A-8 with the Infiniti and with such a negative slant is just one
more unfair negative jab from the US media.  FUNNY THING IS in Europe
they love these cars.  I think the real problem at Automobile Magazine
is a guy by the name of David E. Davis, Jr. Editor and Publication
Director.  He is a Sabb freak from the word go, and wrote off Audi after
enjoying the 60 min. report. (nothing wrong with being a Sabb freak,
thank God for all of us freaks out there - but if you are an editor, you
don't leave out the S-6 or S-4 in your reporting).
Now having said all of this, Automoblie did write a very exciting report
on the A-4, in fact the story even had me considering trading my S-6 ...
for about 30 mins. :) And the A-8 report was ok, .... but why the dumb
airy headlines?  If BMW, SAAB, or MB came out with a car like the A-8 -
(A-8 is FASTeR and all wheel drive and the tranny on the A-8 does not
have a stupid computer guessing your mood), Automobile would have had
the MB or BMW on the front cover....but since it is an Audi they put it
in the back with a bland Infiniti Q45).... oh well someday... hope Audi
imports the new S-4, S-6, S-8.....:)
Howard Cooper Audi staff told me the other day that the A-4 is out
selling the 328I.  I wonder if that is true in the US or just world
wide?
BTW: You can visit Automobile Mag. at http://automobilemag.com
I have never been there, but will go now.
I am sending copies of this to Automobile.
Best Regards,
John Coffey
Ann Arbor, Michigan