On 2007-06-29 14:08:45 +0100, Matty F said:

On Jun 29, 11:27 pm, " wrote:
Have you got a link to the original report on that?

Here's a Usenet discussion with all the points that are sure to be
made:http://groups.google.co.nz/group/nz....thread/e25b1af...

Looking at the original thread,

http://groups.google.co.nz/group/nz....ad/thread/8d7c...

there seems to be just one person with an axe to grind, whilst the
other posters disagree with him.

Are you and "Pete" the same person?

No I don't know who Pete is. I think most of New Zealand would agree
that Makita badly stuffed up their handling of that case.

On a PR basis, possibly. However, this doesn't address the issue that
the user clearly didn't follow the manufacturer's instructions
regarding safety glasses. Makita could quite reasonably have said
that the product instructions weren't followed and therefore tough
titty for the user. In the event, a payment could only be regarded
as a good will gesture and not a question of product liability.



Do some of you guys sell or work for Makita? I only got involved in
this because of comments such as these:

"I won't buy anything but Makita from now on, it's just so good and
'does exactly what is says on the tin'."

"Its certainly a safe way to know you will get something that is at a
minimum "good" and will last (and I have never been disappointed with
any of my Makita kit)".

To refute that completely I refer you to some of Makita recalls. I
suggest that everybody check for recalls for all of their power tools.

If you look at the complete picture, you will find that virtually all
of the tool manufacturers have 20-30 product recall notices. There
are some far worse ones from this related to products such as Ryobi
where blades fly off of radial arm saws because the motor casings fell
apart.

I always look at product recall notices before buying any power tool.
It's a fact of life that occasionally there are manufacturing,
material and even design defects. The obvious thing then to do is to
investigate whether there is a generic problem - i.e. do all Makita
palm sanders have a similar problem and have steps been taken to
address this if so.

One should also look further. For example, does the defect cause a
problem or risk of injury if used in accordance with the maker's
instructions or only if they are ignored. The sander would only
cause serious (e.g. eye) injury to anyone stupid enough not to have
read the instructions. The radial arm saw could cause serious injury
even with all of the recommended safety precautions.

Context is important. Compare with the car industry. Some years
ago, Ford attempted to suppress recall and rework of the Pinto in the
United States. This car had a defect whereby if the rear end was
shunted, there was a possibility that the fuel tank would be ruptured
and ignited by damage to the wiring for the central locking system - in
other words, barbecued occupants. Ford calculated that it would be
cheaper to pay compensation to the unfortunate punters than to recall
and rework all the cars. Clearly that isn't reasonable. OTOH,
nobody would reasonably expect successfully to sue a car manufacturer
for injury in an accident when he hadn't been wearing a seatbelt.

Nonetheless, the original comments are perfectly reasonable. The
major branded tool manufacturers (Bosch, DeWalt, Makita, Metabo,
Hitachi, Festool, Fein, Lamello and one or two others) do make quality
products which generally do do a better job than the Chinese labeled
generics, last longer and are servicable for longer.

Does this mean that they are perfect under all circumstances? Of course not.

There is a price and volume factor as well.

If you look on the CPSC web site, you won't find recall notices for
Festool, Fein and Lamello. However, these manufacturers are at the
top of the market and sell in relatively small volumes without price as
the major issue.

You may wish to look for a post from some time back in this group where
somebody managed to set fire to his trousers with a cheap angle grinder
falling apart.

The number and severity of recalls and potential injuries, even when
used in accordance with the instructions is related to the market
position of the manufacturer. Again if you look at Ryobi (which is in
the low middle part of the market) you will find that many of their
recall notices relate to issues that could cause injury even if the
product is used correctly.

Finally one has to consider the notification mechanisms. All of the
branded tool manufacturers have a product registration arrangement,
with some such as Bosch and Festool offering incentives such as extra
warranty for so doing. Of course, part of this is for marketing, but
it also allows the manufacturer proactively to contact the user in the
event of a product defect or recall. Certainly they do that. I
don't have any confidence that a volume retailer with a private labeled
Chinese generic would take the trouble to do so. Occasionally there
are odd photocopied notices up in stores but little more.