Automotive News - February 10, 2013 - 12

12 * FEBRUARY 10, 2014

opinion
Only the workers
in Chattanooga
get a vote on UAW
When hourly workers at Volkswagen's Chattanooga assembly plant vote this week on whether to join the UAW, there will
be more at stake than union representation in a single plant.
People far removed from Chattanooga have imbued the
election with vast import, a watershed event in U.S. economic
history. The UAW and its supporters see it as a pivot point to
reverse the long decline in automotive unionism. Political opponents warn that a UAW win in Tennessee could lead to
greater unionization of the South and blunt the region's competitive edge in manufacturing. Both Tennessee U.S. senators
openly oppose the UAW. The National Right to Work Committee has filed legal challenges to UAW campaign methods.
It has been tough to organize in the South. The UAW represents workers in Detroit 3 and supplier plants and in two
Northern plants originally set up as joint ventures, but not in
any other Southern assembly plants.
But this time VW has said it is neutral about union representation. Labor leaders and some Volkswagen AG leaders would
like the U.S. plant to have representation on the automaker's
global works council, which requires U.S. unionization. In
Germany, VW is a symbol of national co-determination, the
system of management-labor cooperation in which labor
members make up half a corporation's board of supervisors.
Whatever outsiders care to read into this, the Feb. 12-14 vote
belongs to the 1,500 plant workers themselves.
The National Labor Relations Board must ensure that the
UAW, VW, politicians and all other interested parties do not
unduly influence the election. Outsiders should back off. Let
VW workers determine their own future.

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Crash avoidance is a noble idea
For decades people in the
aircraft industry have
believed that for the most
part airplane crashes were
not survivable. So they spent
all their time and energy
creating systems for crash
avoidance. It has been
spectacularly successful; the
safety record of commercial
aircraft is remarkably good.
The government is now
suggesting that perhaps the
first step in creating that
type of automotive
environment would be to install
transmitting devices in all vehicles sold in
the United States, which over several
decades would enable vehicles to
communicate with one another to avoid
accidents.
Anytime someone suggests avoiding
accidents over crash survival, it seems to
be a step in the right direction.
But transponders have been in
airplanes for decades, and aircraft still

cannot independently avoid
midair crashes. The aviation
industry still requires
controllers on the ground to
monitor aircraft positions
and make sure there is
enough separation for safety.
What may be a noble
suggestion is probably an
impractical solution to
automotive collisions. Many
safety experts are convinced
that the ultimate safety
device is eliminating the
driver from the equation,
and they might be right. However, no
one in the auto industry is prepared to
abandon the driver.
Certainly the research being done on
driverless cars is a step in that direction,
although I would rather see a
sophisticated automotive autopilot that a
driver monitors.
Car-to-car communication would
probably require decades to implement
because for it to be effective all vehicles

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Aluminum moves up
Ford Motor Co.'s aluminum-body F-150 pickup has swept
away the traditional hierarchy of automotive metal suppliers.
Since replacing wood a century ago, steel has been the
undisputed king. Aluminum and other metals made their living as alternatives that had niche roles and sometimes could
substitute for steel.
The aluminum industry has made substantial inroads in automotive use over decades by trading on lightness and corrosion-resistance, gaining even some full-body structural uses
on high-end, low-volume vehicles. But steel's low cost, durability and versatility - including ease of manufacture and repair - maintained its dominance, enhanced by the development of high-strength alloys that can be lighter.
Ford had to pioneer high-volume production methods and
still must address repair infrastructure for aluminum bodies.
But the F-150 establishes aluminum as a primary choice for
mainstream auto use rather than a secondary option.
Designers trying to lighten vehicles to boost fuel economy
will rethink the basics. Metal providers will invest in even
more research on new alloys and manufacturing processes.
The competition will be good for the auto business. The industry is at its best when it focuses on innovation.

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on the road must be capable of
communicating.
I think the goal of avoiding accidents
should get more attention, but I
understand the difficulty in achieving
that.
A key part of the equation, which is
seldom discussed publicly, is calculating
the cost of saving a human life. A step can
be inexpensive or cost millions of dollars,
but it's hard to evaluate competing safety
technologies if you won't even talk about
effectiveness.
Right now adding technology to make
automotive autopilots more effective
and safer seems to be our best chance to
decrease accidents dramatically.
The ability of manufacturers to design
ever-safer vehicles has been remarkable,
but as long as there are some crashes
undoubtedly there also will be fatalities
and injuries.
Let's hope that in the future someone
will look at the cost for entire systems
before discussing more mandated
technology for the automobile.

Did you know that you can write
a letter to the editor on our Web
site? Here's one way to do it.

Ⅲ Go to autonews.com.
Ⅲ Open a story.
Ⅲ After you have read the story, click
on the "Respond" prompt, which
you'll find below the headline at
the top of the story. That will bring
up a letter form.
Ⅲ Follow the directions.

No, the Viper is
not the Corvette
To the Editor:
This is in response to "Gilles: Viper
has 'never tried to be Corvette,'"
Nov. 27.
I do not consider a Corvette
a "disposable device."
When the Viper gets the following
and history that the Corvette has, then
SRT brand head Ralph Gilles can
possibly think about saying something
like that. Until then, he should mind
his words.
ALAN SZABLEWSKI
Northbrook, Ill.
The writer works for a Tier 2 and 3
automotive supplier.

Want to talk sales?
Give GM a call
To the Editor:
In his Feb. 3 blog, Automotive News
Staff Reporter Nick Bunkley criticized
General Motors' decision to cancel
its monthly U.S. sales conference call
and said the company had virtually

nothing to say to reporters and Wall
Street analysts about its January sales
("GM lets a convoluted statement do
all the talking," autonews.com).
Well, we actually had a lot to say.
The problem is you didn't ask. Not a
single editor or reporter for Automotive
News called us for a comment.
As we said in January, we ended the
conference call to concentrate on
investor conferences and other forums
that allow us to discuss our strategy
and results with a long-term view and
in a more holistic way. But we
promised to answer any individual
questions from media and analysts
alike.
This was an open-ended offer - and
it still stands.
JIM CAIN
Sales Communications
General Motors
Detroit

Don't backtrack
on technology
To the Editor:
Regarding "Car controls are just too
complex," Letters to the Editor, Feb. 3:

LETTERS
TO THE EDITOR
I couldn't disagree more.
I am 72 years old and will not
purchase a vehicle that does not have
the latest technology.
I purchased a Lincoln MKX in 2011
with MyLincoln Touch. It took a short
time to get used to no knobs, but now
I am disappointed that Lincoln and
Ford are going back to knobs.
Once you have a vehicle with smart
keys, adaptive cruise control,
blind-spot protection, cross-traffic
warnings, lane-departure warnings,
etc., you don't want to go back to the
Dark Ages.
Automobile manufacturers: Please
keep technology on the fast track
forward.
With just a little effort, we can learn
to use it, and life will be much safer and
easier.
ED HEEREMA
President
Arbor Gage & Tooling Inc.
Grand Rapids, Mich.

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Automotive News - February 10, 2013

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