Why hasn't U.S. gone metric yet?

[jazz4cash]

i often wonder about standardization.

today as i drove down the road, i wondered about semi's...18 wheelers. I looked at the lines connecting the trailer of a big-rig to the truck itself, and saw the big plugs on both ends....I wonder if they (the plugs) are all the same from one truck to the next? If not, what would you do if you had to haul a trailer with incompatible lines (i suppose they are brake lights and compressed air for brakes)? If they ARE all the same, WHO invented them? Do they make money every time a plug is made with that particular connector?

Then i looked at their mudflaps (funny ones) and wondered the same kind of thing... "are those standard18-wheeler mudflaps? or are they made specifically to mount to a 1998 Peterbuilt blah blah" if theres a standard mounting bracket or configuration for mudflaps...how'd that become so?


wierd stuff like this goes thru my head a lot. i must be special

Dang You! I nearly wrecked today while trying to inspect the mud flaps on several big rigs I passed on the road today! I worked as a powertrain engineer for many years, but never gave much thought to the doggone mudflaps other than making sure they were present.

I realized a typical example of our mixed up measurement system is the tire system we use that is a combination of metric/ non-dimensional and english units. The tire width is millimeters, the tire section height (profile) is percent and the rim diameter is inches, i.e. 225/60-15

 

[ERD50]

You know, i think Mr. Ford was working on something like that some years ago....

And Eli Whitney and a few others before him:

Interchangeable parts - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Around 1778, Honoré Blanc began producing some of the first firearms with interchangeable parts. Blanc demonstrated in front of a committee of scientists that his muskets could be assembled from a pile of parts selected at random.

-ERD50

 

[HFWR]

assembled from a pile of parts selected at random...

I believe this is how most American cars are built to this day...

 

[travelover]

I believe this is how most American cars are built to this day...

I know it is fun to kick a guy when he is down, but what you are saying isn't true or respectful to many of us who either worked in the US auto industry or whose families got a leg up into the middle class through US auto jobs.

Consumer Reports: Ford makes strides, Toyota dips

 

[jIMOh]

I know it is fun to kick a guy when he is down, but what you are saying isn't true or respectful to many of us who either worked in the US auto industry or whose families got a leg up into the middle class through US auto jobs.

Consumer Reports: Ford makes strides, Toyota dips

As a former automotive employee for a big 3 company and supplier, I can say the automotive industry is ripe with inefficiencies and corruption. I could see it when I worked there 10+ years ago, and it shows in the quality of the cars they make. Millions of americans switching to honda and toyota cannot be wrong. Consumer driven economy... make a better product, a more reliable product, and this problem would not exist.

GM, Ford and Chrysler made most of their sales, IMO, out of loyalty to "buy american", than they did because they built a better product. This short sightedness, IMO, will take around 20 years to correct.

Drove a Saturn, OK until about 150,000 miles. Good car, I would buy it again, but car is way to small for me (I drove an SC2 when I was single).
Drove a Ford Focus- started giving us problems before it was paid off. Good riddance on that one.

Drive an Civic and Ridgeline now and could not be happier.
My wife's uncle has a camry with 300k miles on it and still going strong. Many others I know have civics, accords and camry's with 200k miles on them. The equivalent ford car (focus) was dead after 80k miles.

Not even close.

 

[travelover]

As a former automotive employee for a big 3 company and supplier, I can say the automotive industry is ripe with inefficiencies and corruption. I could see it when I worked there 10+ years ago, and it shows in the quality of the cars they make. Millions of americans switching to honda and toyota cannot be wrong. Consumer driven economy... make a better product, a more reliable product, and this problem would not exist.

GM, Ford and Chrysler made most of their sales, IMO, out of loyalty to "buy american", than they did because they built a better product. This short sightedness, IMO, will take around 20 years to correct.

Drove a Saturn, OK until about 150,000 miles. Good car, I would buy it again, but car is way to small for me (I drove an SC2 when I was single).
Drove a Ford Focus- started giving us problems before it was paid off. Good riddance on that one.

Drive an Civic and Ridgeline now and could not be happier.
My wife's uncle has a camry with 300k miles on it and still going strong. Many others I know have civics, accords and camry's with 200k miles on them. The equivalent ford car (focus) was dead after 80k miles.

Not even close.

My objection was the statement that American cars are made out of a random pile of parts. I'm for anyone buying any car they want.

But making insulting, broad statements about any group of people, whether it is military, government employees, doctors, lawyers, etc, is just lowering the conversation to name calling.

 

[jIMOh]

My objection was the statement that American cars are made out of a random pile of parts. I'm for anyone buying any car they want.

But making insulting, broad statements about any group of people, whether it is military, government employees, doctors, lawyers, etc, is just lowering the conversation to name calling.

fair... my experience with a supplier suggests that "pile of parts" might be similar to what happens, though.

I worked for a company outside the automotive industry at one point, and a supplier we shared with a tier 1 supplier for GM showed some of the quality checks used.

The quality process we used rejected X% parts because of material and similar defects. Those same parts GM considered acceptable and put in cars on the road 15 years ago... the commitment to top quality is not there.

I have many similar stories of my dealings with other automotive suppliers as well.

 

[travelover]

f........... Those same parts GM considered acceptable and put in cars on the road 15 years ago... the commitment to top quality is not there.........

Bolding mine. I'm sure that what you are saying is true, but what is the good of running down US companies and rooting for their Asian competition? The US auto companies have taken their punishment, are on the ropes and many innocents have suffered or will suffer. The arrogant former executives have fled with their golden parachutes.

The point of my link is that progress is being made with domestic quality and it should be recognized. Then go buy any car you want.

 

[d]

having learned the arcane system we currently have (chains, rods, fathoms, cubits, furlongs, pints, pounds, pecks, etc) i can hardly afford the grey matter which would be required to internalize another system, no matter how "scientific" it might be ... esp one which originated in France.

 

[jazz4cash]

My objection was the statement that American cars are made out of a random pile of parts. I'm for anyone buying any car they want.

But making insulting, broad statements about any group of people, whether it is military, government employees, doctors, lawyers, etc, is just lowering the conversation to name calling.

I agree!

 

[HFWR]

I know it is fun to kick a guy when he is down, but what you are saying isn't true or respectful to many of us who either worked in the US auto industry or whose families got a leg up into the middle class through US auto jobs.

Consumer Reports: Ford makes strides, Toyota dips

Apologies for any slight, real or imagined. FWIW, I'm from the midwest, and entered the workforce and adulthood during the height of the "Rust Belt"...

In my day, I made car parts, including doors, catalytic convertors, and insulation mats, as well as steel cans, plastic bottles, cardboard boxes, foam packaging materials, tomato juice, creamed corn, and semiconductors. After participating in these endeavors, I can most definitively state that I'm surprised ANY of it works...