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As a guy who sells castings for a living I have to tell you that this is clearly an example of poor engineering and a move to save about $1.00 per head. Heck yes this is a manufacturer's defect. Wrong material and design for the application. I have moved in and out of the automotive area a couple of times in my career and have seen the dark side of a company trying to save a nickle. One of my favorite examples are the cars with the plastic intake manifolds. Yes, the new resins are good at higher temperatures but they warp over time. If the engine coughs they can explode too. Replacement is common with them and they can cost close to $1,000.00. This is all because they saved $20.00 on the part. Another good one is disk brake rotors. You ever have to replace the rotors because they are warped? Too thin to handle the heat. Thin because they are cheaper. Made overseas with no control on alloy chemistry. But they are cheaper. Why do people buy Toyotas and Hondas? Simply because they have better engineering focus that's not driven by their purchasing group trying to save pennies and putting their suppliers out of business. I can't tell you how many times I had a domestic automotive engineer tell me that "they only have to make it through the warranty period". Glad to be back in aerospace manufacturing again!
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