GM is ending HO/N licenses for scale vehicles

[Anonymous]

Are we blaming the wrong people??
Consider, who puts corporations into the position where they feel the need to protect themselves.
Are Corporations out of control or is it our legal system that gives millions of dollars to a customer that burned his mouth on hot coffee.Millions!!!!!
If you want to point a finger of blame for idiotic thinking, lets make certain we point it in the proper direction.
Will the mentality ever change if we do nothing but stand aside and let the rampant attorneys knowingly bilk huge amounts of money out of corporations for silly crap.
What ever happened to common sense?
It got ridden over by greed.Its the big attorneys who put that gleam into the eye of a guy who burned his tongue.The one that says "Son we are going to make you rich"
Precedents are set which basically becomes law without ever having to go through capital hill.
Judges are not supposed to make law but they do it day in and day out.
Find someone else to blame, dont blame the corporation that is intelligent enough to see the writing on the wall.5000 lobbyists in washington will not affect that 1 judge who allows a ruling due to a precedent that was set 20 years ago.A precedent that in fact is not law!!

[davekelly]

Gray Loess
Interesting quote. Yup ole Bill did say that. Of course the line was uttered by a person contemplating how to take over a country - but I digress.

Of course we should probably look at those "outrageous" awards given to some plaintiffs. Yes at times it appears that we've become a lawsuit happy society - but why is that? If there weren't "outrageous" awards would anyone want to sue? Why are there "outrageous" awards? Yes, we all like to say "it's the lawyers with their trickery." But doesn't the defense have lawyers too? Or is it that GM and other "deep pocket" defendants don't have the financial ability or good sense to hire good attorneys? Or could it be something else? Most of the "outrageous" awards are jury awards given by jurors. In that case should we say "kill the jurors?" After all - everyone here gladly answers the jury summons they get right? Or, because it is a common joke that juries are made up of folks "not smart enough to get out of it" perhaps we should say "kill those that avoid jury duty?"

If this licensing thing is true - why is GM scared? I have not been able to think of a single way a plaintiff could argue that their is a causal relationship between GM's licensing of a model to a kid choking on a car. Allowing the car to look like a Corvette rather than a generic "car" would make it no more likely that a kid would try to eat the thing. Could it be that GM is frightened that if such a case were to come up - a jury wouldn't be able to see the silliness of it? Perhaps the quote should be "let's kill all the uneducated or stupid people?"

If we have become a suit happy society, there is only one place to place the blame. On the society itself.

To show that I try to be balanced:

Q: What is the difference between a catfish and an attorney?
A: One's a bottom dwelling scum sucker - the other a fish.

Dave (I do so enjoy lawyer jokes)

[Leon Silverman]

I wonder if the real reason is that GM failed to achieve a five-star crash rating of their models against HO and N scale locomotives and faces sanctions from the NHSTB?

[JPowell]

Well, I guess I'll just resort to buying Matchbox cars now!
JP

[Adelie]

I guess I'm not surprised. GM has developed a habit of running everything it touches into the ground. I guess the railroads ought to feel lucky they sold of EMD before they nosed it completely in.

Looks like another product that may become an ebay exclusive.

[Anonymous]

As Shakespeare said, "First, we kill all the lawyers."

Corporate executives should probably be next.[:(!]

[trolleyboy]

This is distressing and I might say a very narrow nearsighted thing to do.I work in retail and come accross stuff like this all the time. There is a reason for toy testing that is to put proper age ranges on product.The kids who could choke on this stuff can and would choke on 1/64th as well. This is why once tested toys are given a recomended age not recomended for children under three etc.If labled as an adult hobby product like preiser figures for instance they would be covered.As long as the warnings and age recomendations are there it is up to the concummer to use properly.Not meaning to sound awfull but if someone were to give a toddler one of these and god forbib the child is hurt or worse it would be THEIR FALT not the licencee or manufacturer as they had done their dur diligence and recieved an age and production test/warning from govt, testing agencies.My feeling is this is more of GM trying to find money and their fear is the potential of loosing money in a court.All tied into their poor sales and money numbers right now.This is a complete knee jerk reaction unfortunate but here it is. Rob

[RedGrey62]

Their decision is really curious especially with recent explosion of interesnt (and buying) of HO and N scale vehicles. Look at what happened with Classic Metal Works, their line up to a few years ago was all the 1/24th scale stufff. I'd be willing to wager they're making more now since they've entered the HO and N markets than off their original lines. First we have the whole UP licensing fiasco and now this. Just when we're getting the finest ready to run stuff ever, this happens. Well, enough venting for now. I still need some more Walthers 67 fastback Mustangs to fill my trilevel autorack, I would like to see them rrerun them, since Ford hasn't abandoned us modelers!

Rick

[AntonioFP45]

Funny thing for me is that I no longer drive GM vehicles.

But since my layout's theme will be 1960s-71, GM buses, cars, and trucks, are a virtual required part of the scenery! This is why I was so steamed earlier.

We owe Bill Cawthon our gratitude for informing us of this situation as most likely we all would have been caught off guard. Even my LHS's owner wasn't aware of this!

Bill, if you think petitions would help, please let us know. [;)]

Keep us posted. Thanks!

[brazos87]

Warning labels are everywhere! On the bottom of my beer bottle--"Open other end", top of my ladder, "Stop!". It's a shame that we have to regulate and protect manufacturers, retailers, et al., from the stupidity, laziness, and downright predatory nature of a lawsuit happy society.

[mustanggt]

Bob Lutz must have been on something when he OK'd this decision. Kids have a higher chance of choking on legos than they do on an HO or similiar size vehicles.

[BR60103]

Would it help if the models were made of fudge or stale bread dough?

[Anonymous]

About six months ago on the GM DealerWorld wed site they sent out a message to the effect that higgas prices would have no effect on sales. Duh... What is it they think they sell econoboxes? Or did they think the buying public was to stupid to put 2 and 2 together?

I have worked for a lof of companies and it seems that the bigger they are the worse they are managed. As GM's newest ads say, they are the biggest.

[Virginian]

Please help me remember, how did we get from 2 people to over 3 BILLION without Warning Labels, Child Proof Caps, I D for Glue, 20,000 gun laws, Mandatory seat belt laws, lead free gas, handicapped parking, Amy's Law, Amber Alerts, Megan's Law.... the list is endless.
Are things really better? Well, except for the quality of HO stuff, NO as far as I am concerned. As for anyone who needs a note on an envelope to tell them they have to put on a stamp, as far as I am concerned anyone that stupid doesn't need to use the mail anyway.

[willy6]

Welcome to the UNITED STATES OF LAWSUITS, an on going thing that will continue.[|(][|(][|(]

[rrinker]

I gotta wonder about the people running GM these days. I really think they haven't a clue. They just keep on cranking out the same rent-a-cars, with superficial improvements, or when they do a complete redesign, it produces a car that would be top of the heap - 10 years ago!
And now - reduce their public exposure by insuring that no small models of their cars will be legally produced. Wow... now wonder the company is in deep trouble.

--Randy

[rtraincollector]

Gimmie a VW beatle any day LOL .

[Anonymous]

If it's true, time to "roll your own"! Scratchbuilders, unite!

OK, so where are the Studes, Packards, DeSoto pickups, and how about a Stude pickup? How about a Kaiser or a Henry J DeLuxe? And just where are all those AMCs, something besides a Javelin?

[Cox 47]

Nothing runs like a ford! Cox 47

[dharmon]

The way things are going at GM, you'd think they be trying to expand the marketing of anything that provides income...

[davekelly]

Dave,

Good question. If I was a conspiracy theory type person I could have a field day with this one lol. I guess we'll just have to wait and see.

BTW: I love the pic at the bottom of your post. Great job on the rock work and trees. The angle of the shoot is fantastic also!

[dave9999]

QUOTE: Originally posted by davekelly

Dave,

The label is a good idea, but I'm still not sure what liability they would need protecting from in the first place. Generally licensing is limited to things such as likeness, name, shape etc. It would be different if the license were to produce an actual Corvette - then there are some liability issues that could come back to bite them.

Just my opinion.

Dave,
I see your point... It kind of makes the whole thing seem a little odd. What are
they concerned with?? Dave

[davekelly]

Dave,

The label is a good idea, but I'm still not sure what liability they would need protecting from in the first place. Generally licensing is limited to things such as likeness, name, shape etc. It would be different if the license were to produce an actual Corvette - then there are some liability issues that could come back to bite them.

I'm pretty sure that if GM were ever to be sued because someone ate a Preiser Chevy, it wouldn't be all that hard to get summary judgmented out of the case. Heck it wouldn't even cost $1000.00 and would set a precedent that would protect other manufacturers also.

Just my opinion.

[Anonymous]

Wonderful, absolutely wonderful, another case of the corporate "thought" process doing damage to the little guys, to protect them selves from the lowest common denominators of society.

Nevermind the warning labels, people don't read those anyway.

I agree with the comments that parts for a 1:24th scale model can be more dangerous then a 1:8th model.

Alvie.

[Fergmiester]

QUOTE: Originally posted by steveblackledge

This post is very well thought out Bill, Here in the UK we are being flooded out with tat from China that is not licenced or tested to EU standards and is sold for next to nothing, now this stuff IS dangerous to small children. The situation is out of control here. If GM did there homework to ensure only model producers with a safe quallity record built models of there products there should not be a problem, but i may be wrong,
over to you

Well said Steve as I agree 100% as toys must be made to a safe standard. However the manufactureres can't be made to supervise or control what the children put in their mouths. Thats why they have parents.

Fergie

[dave9999]

Couldn't the whole problem be solved with a label on the package such as... THIS
PRODUCT IS INTENDED FOR SCALE MODELING ONLY. THIS IS NOT A TOY.
NOT RECOMENDED FOR CHILDREN UNDER EIGHT... or something along
those lines. It would protect them from legal liabilities if a young child got it's
hands on them and tried to eat the model car. Just a thought, Dave

[davekelly]

This move totally baffles me. I don't see how GM could be liable should someone swallow a model. As GM is not in the stream of commerce for these models I think a plaintiff would have a hard time of making a prima facie case against GM. Of course their decision to stick with 1/64 and larger models doesn't make sense either. If they think that a kid swallowing a 1/87th Chevy will cost them millions, why do they think a kid swallowing a 1/24 rear view mirror would cost any less?

Hopefully some inhouse attorney at GM will set them straight.

[AntonioFP45]

Bill,

Thanks so much! Let's hope that the meeting will go well and common sense prevails.

[bcawthon]

The GM bus is in the final production stages for a summer release and Busch is now looking at losing a huge amount of money, which it will not be able to recover from GM.

GM has been going back and forth with this silliness since last year and most recently said that Busch's products were safe. I was in the uncomfortable position of having to deliver the bad news to Busch's managing director, a good friend of mine.

When you consider just how many models Busch will have to drop from its line ('50 Buick, '50 Chevy pickup, '52 Cadillac, '56 Corvette, '66 Cadillac, including the new American ambulance, '72 Firebird, '95 Caprice, '95 Blazer), it will be a major blow to the American modeler's best friend among the German modelmakers.

Add to that the fact Model Power will have to drop the new '55 Bel Air, '69 Camaro, Firebird and will not be able to release their upcoming Oldsmobile 442 and other models in the works.

No more CMWs, no more GMC Generals from Promotex or those ex-Monogram Mini-Exacts Herpa has kept in production. No more Wiking Opel GT and Opel Manta (both of which were sold through Buick dealers in America).

I sent a long letter to the gentlemen at EMI and GM, urging them to consider a more reasonable standard. There will be a meeting in Detroit next week, where we will learn if there is some hope.

[AntonioFP45]

Bill,

But hasnt' the GMC fishbowl already been produced?

I have to admit, I'm pretty steamed right now as I as well as a number of modelers have been waiting for this bus..........FOR YEARS!

This is crazy! I hope that there will be a light at the end of the tunnel.