this post was submitted on 13 Nov 2024
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Fuck Cars
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Explain to me how the engineers aren't guilty of manslaughter?
Look, I lasted one semester at engineering school, washed all the way out almost immediately. I still had to write a 10-page case study on an engineering failure, and the one I chose was the McDonnell-Douglas DC-10 cargo door failures. They teach this shit in failing community colleges in purple states. The buck stops with the PE that signed the plans. Drag his ass into criminal court. The person who allowed this design to go to production does not need to be free.
They won't because this would require a trial where rich people wouldn't benefit, which is a waste of government resources, which goes against the Department of Government Efficiency's goals. More efficient to throw these poor souls' families under the bus.
The people who design the Tesla cars are not engineers. They're a bunch of tech geeks who think they're engineers.
I mean, ask yourself this why is. Every single automobile that exists today with the exception of the Tesla can handle rain and car washes with absolutely no issues and yet Teslas have to have a special button to close off certain parts of the car so that the air intake doesn't get too wet otherwise the car ends up stinking horribly of mildew.
There is still someone's signature.
If needed, liquidate company.
I think the company is going to liquefy itself once the subsidy that made them profitable dries up completely.
Where's the Safety FMEA! Show me the FMEA!
Risk 3452.7: feature, door. Function, opens during fire, failure mode: won't open during fire, trapping people inside. Cause: the darn things are electronic! So if the battery fails in a big ass fire with people inside, those fuckers are gonna cook real good! Engineering controls in place to prevent the failure mode: 200,000 units delivered in time! As in it took time to deliver the units. Risk rank: 😉 it's Frank! 😄 My name's Frank! Not rank!
Well I'm glad we took time to mitigate these risks.
Meanwhile, actual autonomous vehicle companies actually perform FMEDA.
There are no PEs signing off on "consumer products," or even little things like airplanes.
(Seriously, PEs are only relevant in engineering fields where design is easily governed by standards, such as HVAC and civil.)
There are absolutely engineers (with or without PE licenses, I'm not sure if that's necessary in aerospace) signing off on airplanes, even after they're built. For a mechanic to make a major modification or repair to an airframe or power plant it needs to be approved somehow, either covered by the airplane's original Type Certificate and detailed in the maintenance manual, covered in a supplemental type certificate (STC), or they can work with an aeronautical engineer to design and approve the repair. I have forgotten the exact line between "you can get an A&P IA to approve this skin patch plate" and "You need to either call an AE to design a repair for this but it might be cheaper to buy a whole wing."
I have a degree in aeronautical engineering, but I'm not a PE. It's a very specific license in the US that isn't applicable outside of a few engineering disciplines. There are no statutory requirements for a PE to sign off on a car or plane design; their safety is governed by other means.