Everybody has heard of these cars…they exhibit multiple system failures, at the same time! I doubt that these lemons really exist, because, statistically speaking, a series of failure should be very unlikely.
Take the following example: a modern car has hundreds of electronically controlled systems (fuelinjection, auto transmission, door locks, lights, etc.). If we assume that a faulre of each of these is likely every 10,000 hours (roughly 1.2 years), then the probablility of brakes, radio, trnasmission failing at the same time are pretty low…to the point where such cases ought to be counted as 1-2 parts per million.
Can it be that people exaggerate thier breakdowns? Or is something elese happemning…topeople who have “lemons” really cause the failures (by neglecting basc mantainence, repairs, etc.)?
Sure, they exist. In fact, it’s something of a joke within the auto industry that the worst cars are produced on Mondays and Fridays, when the workers are either thinking about the upcoming weekend or hung over from the previous one. Cars are complex machines and missing a few key bolts here and there can cause the eventual owner no end of trouble.
Sure they exist. We had one. A 1998 Corvette. It was my husband’s car and I don’t remember the particulars, but the dealership did have to buy it back from him due to the problems.
Yes a recent study has shown that up to 40% of these lemon cars are produced on a Monday or Friday.
What’s up with the term “lemon”, anyways?
A co-worker of mine bought a 2002 Honda Civic that in the first year had a blown (automatic) transmission, a brake problem, a dead alternator, and the power window for the driver’s window stopped working.
You are making a basic statistical error in your analysis. Those types of statistics assume that each of these failure events is independent. They are not necessarily. The car’s final assembly is done on an assembly line. If something goes wrong during the assembly of one part such as the installation of the many parts under the hood, it can affect the installation of other parts after it. Also, one improperly installed part can start a domino effect that causes other components to fail rapidly. Not all cars coming off the line are assembled at the same quality even though they have the same parts. Even the engine can be “bad” because of one of many problems.
I have seen several people get lemon cars before. You better believe that they are real. That is why there are lemon laws on the books. Even if someone neglected basic maintence, that should not cause several failures within the first few months. Yet, it happens all the time.
My Dad had a lemon car, though not as catastrophic as what the OP wants to posit. It was a Buick Century, and from day one the air conditioner wouldn’t work. He took it in seven or eight times to get it fixed, and each time the shop told him they’d solved the problem – only they didn’t. They finally got the problem resolved, but it soured (heh) him off American automobiles for over a decade.
Under California law (more than two times to repair the same problem), that was definitely a lemon.
Seems pretty self explanatory to me 
I bought my brother a book about lemons. What he fund saddest, and why I bought it, was how many of them he had owned.
Could you provide a link please? I mean, it makes perfect sense that lemons would be more common on Mondays and Fridays, it’s just that the words ‘a recent study’ always kind of make me curious…
<<whooooosh!>>
Mangetout, in your typical Monday thru Friday workweek, 40% of all cars are made on a Monday and Friday. The remaining 60% of course being made on Tuesday, Wednesday, and Thursday.
I once had a car that was built on January second. If any car would have problems because of hung over workers, you’d think it would have been that one. I never had a problem with it.
:smack:
Except that a lot of asembly lines do not just run Monday-Friday. Woosh him right book.
Obviously the OP never owned a Jeep. For those keeping notes, that stands for “Junk, Each & Every Part”.
My father once had a car that kept blowing out the air conditioning compressor. The dealer kept replacing them, manufacturer reps kept inspecting them, they kept blowing out. IIRC, he went through about 7 of them in 2 years.
Much as it is said that a beautiful woman is proof of the existence of God, a 1960s era British car is proof of the existence of lemons.
Well, again, I find it incredulous that the same component can fail time after time. let’s face it, there are millions of cars on the road…and most start up every morning. I think that most “lemons” are the product of either:
(1) bad mechanices 9the guy installs the part the wrong way)
(2) Defective design…Volkswagen cars had a long-running ignition problem, caused by defective Bosch ignition cols…dealers had to keep replacing these
But to have MULTIPLE failure of differnet systems, at the same time…this can’r happen! statistics don’t allow it!
Yeah, but to be fair, in those cases, Monday and Friday wouldn’t be such special days for the workers…
FORD = Fix Or Repair Daily
FIAT = Fix It Again Tomorrow
CHEVROLET = Crank Hangs, Every Valve Rattles, Oil Leaks Every Time