Corvair or Cobalt Which Hurt GM More

"Vince-The Roadside Mechanic" (vincent-becker)
04/05/2014 at 11:23 • Filed to: GM recall

Now I like both the Cobalt and the Corvair. I believe they are great cars who are now misunderstood.

THE CORVAIR

The Corvair is probably known as dangerous because of Ralph Nader the man who wrote the book Unsafe at any Speed in chapter 1 the sporty Corvair he said the Corvair was unsafe because model years 1960-1963 had a swing axle suspension which was made to tuck under due to lack of a front stabilizer bar also known as an anti-roll bar. Also the Corvair relied on an unusually high front to rear pressure differential (15psi front, 26psi rear, when cold; 18 psi and 30psi hot), and if one inflated the tires equally, as was standard practice for all other cars at the time, the result was a dangerous oversteer. I couldn't find the number of deaths the Corvair caused.

THE COBALT

Now the main problem with the Cobalt is that GM knew about the ignition problem. The original thought of the problem was that the key was to heavy but that was not the case the ignition switch is the problem. Prone to move the key into the off position when a bump is hit and turn off the car and disable the airbags and power steering which will make it hard for some people to do what GM said and steer it to the side of the road which is horrible advice if you are on an interstate or a road with guard rails. The Cobalt has ben linked to 13 deaths so far.

WHICH HURT GM MORE

The Cobalt

WHY?

While it is still early to tell it seems the cobalt has hurt GM the most because they knew about the issue and didn't fix it thus making it seem that GM does not build quality vehicles.

DISCUSSION (13)

Pearson Hurst > Vince-The Roadside Mechanic
04/05/2014 at 11:26

I could care less about the Cobalt, but I fully own the fact that I have a completely irrational desire to own a Corvair.

Twingo Tamer - About to descend into project car hell. > Vince-The Roadside Mechanic
04/05/2014 at 11:28

Maybe someone knows better than me but through the whole Cobalt controversy I wondered why the airbags don't deploy with the ignition off. This seems like a terrible design fault and I'm sure at least some cars the airbags will deploy while shut off. Always felt this was a much bigger issue than the actual ignition switching off.

Vince-The Roadside Mechanic > Pearson Hurst
04/05/2014 at 11:30

I want to own a cobalt and a corvair my family has owned both and has liked both

Demon-Xanth knows how to operate a street. > Vince-The Roadside Mechanic
04/05/2014 at 11:31

I say the Corvair, because after they got hurt from that they quite literally stopped trying to innovate for decades.

Vince-The Roadside Mechanic > Twingo Tamer - About to descend into project car hell.
04/05/2014 at 11:31

same here I don't think the ignition would be such a big issue if the air bags would still deploy

Vince-The Roadside Mechanic > Demon-Xanth knows how to operate a street.
04/05/2014 at 11:32

That is a good point in the 1980s they started innovating again with the fiero

Grindintosecond > Vince-The Roadside Mechanic
04/05/2014 at 11:33

GM continues the practice of having awesome engineering and research and then chooses the cheapest method of build. result...Cobalt

Leadbull > Vince-The Roadside Mechanic
04/05/2014 at 11:34

thus making it seem that GM does not build quality vehicles.

Seem.

Vince-The Roadside Mechanic > Grindintosecond
04/05/2014 at 11:34

haha that is pretty accurate

Vince-The Roadside Mechanic > Leadbull
04/05/2014 at 11:35

I believe they make quality vehicles but have some bumps in the road like the cobalt

Krieger (@FSKrieger22) > Vince-The Roadside Mechanic
04/05/2014 at 11:46

Corvair, as it was a PR disaster that hurt innovation. The Cobalt is really like the Pinto case (the work of some genius bean-counter), albeit less flammable, and the Cobalt was mostly pre-Government Motors product anyway...

Vince-The Roadside Mechanic > Krieger (@FSKrieger22)
04/05/2014 at 11:48

I agree it is kinda like the pinto

julienjj > Twingo Tamer - About to descend into project car hell.
04/06/2014 at 08:45

Most car will have between 10 to 60 minute of airbag coverage when the car is turned off. It has to be independant, because tall drivers might hit the key with their knees during a collison, or drive a GM. On more equipped car it will depend if the seats pressure detector sense that someone is still sitting inside. Once parked and locked I'm certain they are disabled, until the moment you start the car again.

The logic varies between manufacturers, but it roughly end up being the same kind of protection*.

*execept for GM. Because they hate you.