mdaniel as well as a few others asked about my credentials relating to some of my posts:

"OK. We need some credentials. You said you're a former engineer in the Ohio factory. How recent? Are you still with the company in another job or did you leave? You could be a very popular person around here. I'm sure a lot of us would like to get a glimpse into the engineering and design decisions behind our car."

Sure thing. I worked (been gone about 1.5 yrs - work for a supplier) in production /process engineerng, in both Marysville and East Liberty. I can't specify a dept., but I dealt with engineering and design issues as relating to manufacturing. I also had occasion to work with the Chief Engineers for different models, including KA Accord (98-02), as well as the current TL, CL and Civic. I still maintain inside contact with American Honda (distributor) and Honda of America (factory) associates. I've also established fairly reliable sources within R&D and EGA (engineering) to get inside info into the powertrains.

Things do change, and what I know now is subject to change. My tranny info is only a couple months old, but as I said, ratios can change all the way until the first day of production.

What I can give great insight into is design and development mentality, manufacturing process and body issues. Let me know.....

 

See...here's the problem...why do you guys question everyone's credentials and flame at every person who signs up and wants to contribute??

Take everything at par value, if you believe it, that's fine, if you don't, then ignore the post and move on to the next topic.

The quality and reliability of members on this board has gone down substantially. Last week, I could not even get an answer to a simple CAI question...all I get is "I Think"'s and off-topic answers...

Let's get our shit together folks, make this a better place!

 

Cool. Thanks for the update. BTW, do you know anything about the seatbelt retractors? That's probably the most annoying thing on my car. Did someone cheap out or is there there a good reason for this?

 

I didn't flame the guy. But when someone comes in here claiming to have inside information, I get curious. If he'd turned out to be the 2nd cousin of the girlfriend of the guy who took out the trash on weekends at the Ohio plant 5 years ago, that would have discounted his inside information.

 

I'm not point fingers, I've seen a lot of members doing this...maybe credential checking should be done offline via email or AIM..

 

Over on the tl board, you got ssman66 who says he's an engineer for honda. it came up because they were asking why the tl-s wheels are 6.5 instead of 7 and he said it waas for crash safety purposes.

anyone believe any of this or you still believe that he's 'x'?

 

That's an interesting one. The only thing I can think of is intrusion into the passenger compartments and the design of the front comp (the engine bay, firewall hood, grill, etc). If they had a problem, it would have been easier to narrow the wheels than to redesign the front comp. $$$ talks. I never heard of a problem, but that doesn't mean it didn't exist (any one who comes up here, says they are a honda employee, and claims to know every detail of everything is BSing you. There is too much going on that no one there knows everything).


BTW, I appreciate the concern, but so far, no flames (I've got my extinguisher 8^P )

[ 07-14-2001: Message edited by: jdl75 ]

 

I wish I did. My girlfriends Civic, my sisters Civic, my TL and some Accords I've driven drive me nuts. I am assuming you are talking about the way it seems to lock up for no good reason?

Honda has a philosophy to err on the side of safety. The quick lock-up and the tendency to remain locked is a result of this. I don;t know what happened for 2001, but I doubt the retractors changed. They were all the same for the 1998 Accord 4dr and subsequently all new models built in Marysville (and I believe East Liberty). Japaneese builds can have different components fromt their american built brothers.

[ 07-14-2001: Message edited by: jdl75 ]

 

I've been told by several Acura people that the reason for the progressive locking mechanism is so you won't accidentally brake the side window during seatbelt retraction. My dealer said they have seen it quite often where some guy was just getting out of his car, he unlatched his seatbelt and it broke the side window while retracting.

 

IMHO, I think it is fair to question someone's creditials. To me it far too easy to determine if someone is full of it or really do know what they are talking about, but for others it may not be so easy.

This forum should be full of helpful, informative information. If it has rumor and speculation, that's fine, too; but it should be noted as such.

The 6-speed manual situation comes to mind.....

[ 07-14-2001: Message edited by: kensteele ]

 

That makes a LOT of sense... on my '97 3.0 CLP, that almost happened WAY too many times - I was SURE the window was going to break a few times!!

Can't say that it's ever happened on my CLS... but the belt sure does get tangled too easily..

Sorry for the O/T.