Medical Approach - the Rise and Fall of the Chevrolet Corvair

23/03/2015

The rise and fall

of the Chevrolet Corvair

Medical Approach

Symptoms

The Corvair was proven to be unstable

The rear suspension came in heavier than planned, and some engine parts intended to be aluminum were made from cast iron. Thus, the car’s actual front-rear weight distribution was uneven. With incorrect tire pressures, a rapidly cornering Corvair driver could easily find the vehicle’s back end heading towards the front which shows the this design came with some liabilities but nothing was done about it.

Launched disregarding safety warnings

The fact that Albert Roller, a GM engineer at Chevrolet, declared the Corvair unsafe to use and other top GM engineers suggested the launch to be postponed, they were ignored and the car was still launched. Lets take for example, an individual showing symptoms of minor headache but refuses to take any medication, that headache can eventually lead to a worse sickness that can, in worst case, cause the death of the individual. The managers were so excited about the idea of the launch that they blatantly refused to act on any symptom of failure. When a company is faced with some facts and refuses to act on it, it eventually leads to bigger problems that can cause the downfall of the company.

Attempts to minimize damage on GM’s reputation

Attacking Ralph Nader

When the author Ralph Nader published an article that exposed the Corvair as an unsafe car GM decided to counteract this bad publicity with attacking the author. They hired a former FBI agent to follow him in the intention to spread false rumors to discredit him. These actions got leaked to the US national newspapers and thus GM earned the discredits. The publicity on this matter also resulted in an investigation of GM.

Destruction of Corvair owner complaints

GM executives decided to order the destruction of the 19 boxes of microfilmed Corvair owner complaints to minimize the awareness of them and the issues on the Corvair. The supposedly destroyed complaints turned up though in 1971, in the possession of a junk dealer. GM bought the microfilms back for $20000 and destroyed them.

“Tunnel vision”: Eagerness to launch the Corvair

In the case of the Corvair, GM was ready to go to any length to launch it at the set date. The manager Ed Cole was so obsessed with this model that he became blind to the growing evidence of the safety risks and made himself believe that it was minimal compared to the profits the company will gain if it eventually became a success. He even threatened to fire those who were objecting by saying that they could “stop the objections and get on the team or you can find someplace else to work”. When a big decision like this is solely based on the voice of just one person that threatens to sack employees because of their positive suggestions clearly shows that there is a big problem in that company. The general manager, Ed Cole, had such a strong voice in the company that the management was forced to go along with him.

Problems

Fatal accidents

As the construction of the Chevrolet Corvair was very unstable and the problems never solved, many accidents occurred. The Corvair was designed and promoted to target young drivers who are interested in sports car and, generally, the reason behind many accidents of sports cars is the speed. That, going hand in hand with the problem the Corvair had of the wheels tucking underneath the car in high speeds lead to several accidents. Corvair drivers, among whom two were sons of GM executives, were involved in fatal accidents. Not only was this tragic for the drivers but also for the company as it was drowning in million dollar lawsuits.

Bad publicity (Ralph Nader, Unsafe at Any Price) & Bad reputation

When the article “Unsafe At Any Price” concerning the Chevrolet Corvair got published, GM faced extremely bad publicity and reputation damage. The article exposed the safety issues of the car, which lead to a collapse of sales and it also caused bigger damage to the company’s reputation, which lead to people distrusting the organization. This reputation damage can also spread to other products of the company following that other models will also lose in sales because of the bad image of the company’s name.

Collapse of sales

New safety modifications were fitted to the Corvair in 1964. Even though the cars flaws were corrected, the numerous previous accidents spoke for themselves and the cars popularity sunk and the sales suffered a large decrease. The modifications were done too late and despite GM’s strong defense about the cars safety the company faced a collapse in sales.

Firing the executives

As a result of the US National Newspapers leaking that GM was trying to spread false rumors about Nader, the company director had to apologize in front of Senator Ribicoff’s Senate Committee. It was an apology that the Senator did not accept. In hope of getting rid of a slight pressure from the situation that GM was now in, the chairman also fired several of the executives that were a part of the incident. Their way of handling already existing problems only lead to more problems and because of that people lost their jobs.

Task-oriented leaders: An autocratic leadership style

As a general manager one has a say in many, very important, decisions. Therefore, it is very important that he/she is a good leader that takes all matters in decision to be able to provide the best outcome for the company. However, Ed Cole, the general manager of Chevrolet, is what we would call an autocratic leader. In this leadership style the person in charge has full authority and control over the decision-making processes. Normally, this style is best used where control is needed and there is only a small margin for errors, which is not the case in the car industry. There are subordinates such as engineers, who design and build the cars and have a lot of knowledge about inter alia safety, that should be listened to. Though all the warnings Ed Cole received about the safety of the Corvair drivers he chose to listen to his excitement and eagerness and launch the car with all of its problems. Another reason in the history of Corvair was the cost of production and on this point even the senior GM management chose to stare blindly when the Bunkie Knudsen for the first time applied for authorization to make the car more stable. Ed Cole and the management of GM were at the heart of the problems and basically chose to make decisions blindfolded, hoping for the best while the worst was coming at them.