Featured GM Blazer

John, Thank you for adding more context to your recent posts. It makes them easier to comprehend.

This is a great example of another critique I have.
Bisco mentions Tesla’s “software superiority”.
You reply:

Mike gives a specific example of the apps:

Rather than addressing the specific you had asked for, you dismiss it as only a small part of the total software (which is where Bisco started).

Perhaps you could give us specifics, since you don’t like the ones offered?
I am sure there are some software aspects in which Toyota is superior to Tesla (some would say Car Play). But there are a lot of things Tesla seems to have the upper hand on. (OTA updates, App capability).

 

How does comparing Tesla to Toyota apply this topic about GM ?

 

Just following you down the rabbit hole

 

Nope. I'm not the one dropping bait. Like I pointed out before, this is history repeating. In the case, there is a blatant effort to force the discussion elsewhere. Not only does that fit the pattern, it also confirms GM is in greater trouble than apologists care to admit.

We're back to the OPUD problem and setting of expectations. GM got itself into another mess. What should they do to recover?

We know infotainment is not only buggy, it isn't what people want. Just like we saw with Prius, they want CarPlay & AndroidAuto.

We know that DC fast-charging isn't just slow, a topic we all know well, it is faulting. When it just stops and won't resume, that's a much bigger problem.

We also have seen indications the system isn't efficient. GM has a reputation for bandage repairs, rather than actually fixing the shortcoming. Squeezing in more battery only makes the situation worse.

In other words, I'm calling out the rabbit-hole nonsense. It's not me taking us off-topic. This is supposed to be a thread about GM.

 

GM, Ford, Toyota etc always in the news and they advertise the recalls it seems. Sorry, but Tesla seems to be quiet most of the time. They announced a recall recently, forgot for what, but usually they are quiet. You have to take your car to a Tesla center, or they come out, but how does anyone know about problems with software they have had? Stock holders aren’t going online to advertise problems.
Functionality is personal choice. If a person is happy with their two cycle dishwasher, they don’t need the ten cycle dishwasher, same with cars. Some people are more prone to want the latest and most. Some are asking I need this for what?

 

Those words of wisdom bring us full circle. The original target for Volt was "nicely under $30,000". That clearly was not what GM wanted to deliver. Volt was all about conquest sales. In fact, that is how "know your audience" came about. GM did not spread that technology to vehicles their own loyal customers seek.

Fast-forward to now. We see Blazer & Equinox actually targeting those potential buyers but with price recklessly abandoned. That's why talk of bringing back Bolt stirred, for those who don't want the latest and most.

In other words, GM is lost within their own conflicting priorities. What should they be trying to deliver? What should we be expecting to get?

This stop-sale makes us wonder what GM goals are now. Some objectives & timelines will clearly need to be re-evaluated. History tells us this won't turn out well. The pattern repeat should be easy to recognize.

 

LOL, every single false or true story about Tesla make it into the mainstream news with more often than not a clickbait title. That huge 2,000,000+ vehicle recalls was simply an OTA update that basically added a more visible text telling you to keep your hand on the wheel when you activate the Autopilot (although it included lots of goodies, but that was basically it for the recall).

Personally, in the 30 months of owning one, I never had to go to the service center to have a OTA "recall" done. They were all done in my driveway in about 25 minutes.

That story about Tesla being the vehicles involved in the most accidents in the US? Yeah, false.

No, Tesla, Subaru, and Ram drivers don't have the most accidents

If you wonder why there are so much FUD about Tesla, just think that they don't spend any money on advertising and they are disrupting the standard manufacturing methods and oil industry. Lots of players would want them to fall.

 

The topic was the GM recall due to a software failure.
Bisco mentioned Tesla being very good at software.

So, yes, he may have opened the door a crack.
You the busted down the door

Writing such an aggressive post will of course gather responses. But lets do as you say and return to the original post.

Many people have reported issues with the new GM system. It has been identified as a software issue.
GM took the wise decision, IMO, of issuing a stop sale on the Blazer EV.

To me, this is a big fat nothing IF GM can fix this quickly. Far better to delay deliveries a week, than deliver an annoying product.
It is far easier for GM and the customers to fix all of the Blazers prior to delivery than after.

IF GM can't fix it within a few weeks, then it gets worse and worse with every day.

What may make this more complicated is that most legacy manufacturers buy software modules from different suppliers for different parts of the car. If the issue is contained in one module, it should be quick to fix.
If the issue resides in the communication between multiple modules, that may be more challenging.

 

You're overlooking the very aspect of this that ties Tesla to GM. It's in that pattern which should be recognizable, having repeated so much. Of course, repetition tends to make the obvious easy to miss.

Their own enthusiasts feed the FUD narrative. They are their own worst enemy at times. Far too often, their praise focuses on want rather than need. It's an easy trap to fall into. When someone points out the priority conflict, they get labeled as anti-Tesla or a fanboy of a legacy automaker. Enthusiasts don't take the time to actually consider the dilemma they face.

Sure, Tesla has indeed contributed many leaps forward in automotive manufacturing. But in the process, that created a mess for the transition. Becoming a barrier to adoption is a paradox no supporter is willing to discuss. They evade & distract... just like we saw with GM back when Volt was rolled out. They was an undeniable problem of want verses needs carried over from Two-Mode made worse by not addressing it with its replacement. Now, we see new BEV models, like Blazer, repeating that same mistake.

In short, contributions to failure are not just external. GM bit off more than it could chew. What should happen now?

 

These recalls are always covered in the newspapers. In fact the most useless things wrong with teslas are broadcast. Tesla like other car companies reaches out to owners, not to the general public. That is probably a good thing. Most of the time they are simply software updates over the air. I do like that when tesla has a problem they can't fix over the air they come to my home or work to do it. The one exception, I had a rock take out a sensor, which I couldn't see. I needed to take it into the shop. They stopped giving loaners for quick repairs, they give uber credit for when its in for a day, I had to put uber on my phone. This is very different than when toyota recalled software on my gen III prius, and I had to wait a week until the prius guy was back at work, then they drove me home, and I need a ride back because it was going to take an hour for them to pick me up.

So yes telsa's software and updates are superior to gm's in most every way. Still the gm plug-ins cost less money so they have that going for them.

 

This is what people are talking about when they refer to your posts as "word salad".
Lots of descrptive terms (mess, barrier, evade & distract, want vs need), but no actual subject.

What mess? Slow sales, poor performance, customer complaints?
What barrier? To sales, to general acceptance, to infrastructure roll-out?
Evade & Distract from what?
Want vs Need? Car sales are, by and large, sold based on want. If people bought based on need SUVs wouldn't be half the vehicle market. Giant Hummer vehicles would be non-existant (ok, they almost are anyways).
What is this 'want vs need' issue you have?

How did GM bite off more than it can chew? Because of a software issue? All manufacturers make mistakes, as has been mentioned before in this thread. Does every error imply the manufacturer 'bit off more than they can chew'? Should no one ever do anything if they can't do it absolutely error-free?

 

That link I gave in my previous reply shows exactly what's wrong with the websites focusing on clicks than news, even when the source itself discredit the article, that article remains up. That's not journalism, that's sensationalism.

"Far too often, their praise focuses on want rather than need.”

Not sure what you mean by that, but would like to point out that NCAP gave their vehicles the best safety rating of all the cars they tested in 2022, and that includes brands like Mercedes, BMW and Lexus.

"Sure, Tesla has indeed contributed many leaps forward in automotive manufacturing. But in the process, that created a mess for the transition"

And they are to blame for others not able to be agile?

 

Tesla is in the same boat.

 

How so?

 

Isn't that because when you infer one manufacturers' mistakes are unlike the "other guys"? And yet that necessarily brings up the counter ... which is, "what are you talking about .... here's a whole bunch of mistakes the 'other-guys' do as well" .... but you're ignoring that - by inferring someone's changing the subject. So if you damn a company using that obtuse "tortoise versus hare' gobbledygoop .... you don't think people know you're making reference to Toyota not making those mistakes (when in fact they do - like claiming solid state batteries are ready for prime time now) then you discount any counter because you say it's off topic? Give me a break
.

 

you won't get an answer. his next post will be that this thread is about gm.

 

What this thread shows is the lack of a brutal moderator who moves or removes all posts that aren't on topic. How I long for the days when there were BBSs that were moderated and had maybe a thousand users and you stayed on topic or else you were banned for a month and a second offense was for life. And you better use your real name and not hide behind some made up one. The closest I know now is rav4world in the 10s of thousands of users Inet world.

Half the news articles centering on products I know something about are even puff pieces or factually wrong. MSM included.

I'm certainly not a GM fan, last I owned was probably 40 years ago. Rust heap but then so were most of the cars of that and prior decades. I used to sell our cars at the 2 year mark just because I could spot the rust starting and the buyer probably couldn't. Alfa, Nissan, BMW, Porsche/VW, Honda, Pontiac, Ford ... it didn't matter. They all rusted out at the first sign of salt on the roads.

Now I keep em 8-10 years and no signs of external rust.

GM made a bad bet on the charging interface, one that alone would prevent my interest.

Come back in two years when there will be a universal US interface to a faster charging network for road trips. And new houses will have code mandated conduit or power to any parking area. Maybe some of those hyped new battery capabilities will be here too.

GM is not alone in software abominations. (see VW.) Half the space/time in reviews of EVs are spent on problems with the software. And writing as one who made a living where software and hardware touched, it is tough to get it right even when the developers work next to each other physically let alone separated by time, space and loyalties to a different paymaster.

 

Careful what you wish for. wouldn't your musings hear that you say you long for here get you tossed?

.

 

Some of the most enjoyable post for me are the off the wall, off the topic ravings of others.

It is like I can't help myself and look away.

 

One could think you're deflecting