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Bertel Schmitt
by Bertel Schmitt

Remember GM’s Heated Windshield Washer Fire Fiasco? The one where the “Hotshot” unit got so hot that cars went up in flames? GM recalled them. Our friend Carquestions reveals that this doesn’t keep you from buying one. Why is it still for sale, ask you? Carquestions has the answer: NHTSA was asleep at the wheel again. Says Carquestions: “NHTSA failed to list it. NHTSA is supposed to issue an equipment recall.” Instead, they just called GM. The part is widely available at a parts counter near you. Nobody is saying this has anything to do with the fact that it is a GM part. That would simply be irresponsible conspiracy-mongering.

Bertel Schmitt
Bertel Schmitt

Bertel Schmitt comes back to journalism after taking a 35 year break in advertising and marketing. He ran and owned advertising agencies in Duesseldorf, Germany, and New York City. Volkswagen A.G. was Bertel's most important corporate account. Schmitt's advertising and marketing career touched many corners of the industry with a special focus on automotive products and services. Since 2004, he lives in Japan and China with his wife <a href="http://www.tomokoandbertel.com"> Tomoko </a>. Bertel Schmitt is a founding board member of the <a href="http://www.offshoresuperseries.com"> Offshore Super Series </a>, an American offshore powerboat racing organization. He is co-owner of the racing team Typhoon.

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  • Invisible Invisible on Jul 16, 2010

    The recent spat of recalls has been very interesting. Some blogs are totally focused on every article pertaining to Toyota, and are ignoring these GM recalls. Even when the blog is called out on their practices, they get defensive about their stance. Especially Agent009.

  • Carquestions Carquestions on Jul 16, 2010

    I've been in recent contact with the company and they have confirmed the following; 1. They have made numerous engineering changes to their new products to make them more robust and able to withstand spikes of -400v and other measures. 2. In one example GM had info on a vehicle with 7 miles on it that had caught fire and the washer system was never used.

    • PrincipalDan PrincipalDan on Jul 16, 2010

      So GM says their is no fix, but the supplier says there is a fix? Quite interesting.

  • Don1967 Don1967 on Jul 16, 2010

    Where are the allegations of a witch hunt against General Motors, or the sarcastic remarks about the age of the drivers who allege their cars were defective? I'm just sayin' is all.

    • Psarhjinian Psarhjinian on Jul 16, 2010

      One, the NHTSA isn't advising people, in the mass media, to stop driving the GM car. In fact, they aren't saying much at all. It's enough to make people like me (who didn't believe in the whole "Government Motors Conspiracy" nonsense) think twice. Two, SUA incident frequency is very definitely linked to age, height and sex (eg, it's usually older, shorter women; cars spontaeously catching fire have a little different demographic trend.

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