Michigan politicians want to ban Chinese-badged cars from even visiting the US

RZetopan

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Not disputing the conclusions, but number of recalls is a bad way to measure reliability. It's a number, not a percentage, and most recalls are very minor. When you make the single best-selling vehicle in the US, one bug in the software ends up being 4.4 million recalls. (Trailer control module in the F150 series, fixed by an over-the-air software update.)
However, recalls do tend to indicate that some flaw escaped manufacturing, when it should not have. And not all flaws cause recalls, even some severe design flaws. The Tesla Model Y interior rearview mirror and rear window are too small and essentially useless. The Tesla Cybertruck rearview mirror is worthless when the motorized bed cover is deployed. The Tesla rear passenger emergency door unlockers are hidden or even absent in some Model Y's. No recalls for the very dangerous design flaws.

It may not matter how trivial some recalls are to fix, the fact that they escaped manufacturing is still a manufacturing failure. If a flaw requires a number of specific low probability events to occur, the manufacturer could be forgiven. But many recalls are due to poor workmanship like leaking front windscreens on Ford pickups, was that ever recalled? Or even very poor design choices that are dangerous to users, often done only to save literally pennies per product sold.
 
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numerobis

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Retrosal

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So they’re banning iPhones, Androids, Fitbits, Strava, and teenagers next?

American carmakers need to level up their game again, just like the previous panic when Honda and Toyota innovated beyond the 70s land yachts Michigan was making.
How can this politician be allowed to stay a politician?
 
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Steve austin

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Sad to see the (D) tags here. I'm used to the GQP sticking their heads in the sand and pretending the rest of the world isn't moving on but I guess it will be a bipartisan block to keep Americans from understanding why the US auto industry is going to implode in the next 10 years.
I think the “-Michigan” is the relevant bit, rather than the letter before. Tribalism, especially with regard to perceived political job security, crosses ideological boundaries when that viewed as necessary. The short term (e.g., the next election cycle) usually also trumps the longer term (encouraging Michigan automakers to have viable products, so a need for those Michigan workers, in 10 years).
 
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Jeff S

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Why would foreign agents bother do do the work themselves? They can just buy all that data from companies like Flock.
But would they trust what Flock tells them? Could Flock be forced to cut them off at any time, or worse, ordered by the US government to give intentionally falsified data/analysis to the foreign agents? Would it be easy for the US to detect the surveillance if the foreign agents are doing business openly with a US company like Flock?
 
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Sad to see the (D) tags here. I'm used to the GQP sticking their heads in the sand and pretending the rest of the world isn't moving on but I guess it will be a bipartisan block to keep Americans from understanding why the US auto industry is going to implode in the next 10 years.
In this case, it's pure politics. They want the votes of those local workers. They want to stay in office.
 
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Jeff S

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"GET THE GOVERNMENT OUT OF OUR FREE MARKETS!!!!

EXCEPT WHEN WE CAN'T COMPETE!!!"
There's a real question in my mind - I'm no economist, but whether in international trade there's such a thing as a free market at all?

Aren't almost all countries to one level or another "cheating" the free market? The USA, China, EU nations etc all offer various subsidies, tariffs, and currency manipulation?

How can you have a free market of competition with a country that is using heavy government intervention to drive all your country's businesses out of business?

Then there's the issue of environmental protections, worker protections, etc. If you are trying to do the right thing as a country, and another country like China is perfectly happy to kill lots of their workers, disable many more, and poison people who live in your country with unclean air, water, and soil, that may give you a distinct cost advantage (externalized costs) that allow you to put competitors in countries with good safety laws out of business do to that cost advantage.

So, I would say there is actually some ideological and logical consistency in saying, "We want a free market inside the USA, but we want protectionism from other countries that make a free market impossible inside the USA if they are permitted to sell into the US market."

I would also add, but most libertarian/conservative types would not, I think, is that I think there are national crises that can arise which necessitate government intervention instead of a free market - like the threat from anthropogenic global warming. I think that really did and does necessitate government subsidies to completely disrupt the market for vehicles and other technology that has been historically based on burning hydrocarbons which contribute to AGW.

Because natural market cycles would take far too long to transition to cleaner energy sources and electrification to use those cleaner sources.
 
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Oldmanalex

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I agree that the fact that they have programs to help people is of course better than not having them at all, but the whole social credit aspect is just dystopianly terrifying!
What makes you think our oligarchic, techbro driven dystopia will be any better? Or even different. George Orwell was an optimist.
 
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JWLong

Smack-Fu Master, in training
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Oldsmobile was bought by GM.
Oldsmobile was the original car company that existed before GM was incorporated. This is why it was desposed of in the reorganisation of GM. Oldsmobiles original sales network, the dealers, where holders of certain clauses in the contracts from the early 1900's that GM wanted out of.
 
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I'm Canadian, my partner and kids are American. They are the only reason I still cross the boarder "regularly". This asinine attempt to force Canadians to continue to support US-based automotive manufacturers is, well, asinine.

The number of Chinese venichles bering imported into Canada under the new agreement is equivilant to the number of Teslas sold in Canada. "National security" is just the conversation story to the bigh three trying to muscle the Canadian autmotive marketplace.
 
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cleek

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The republicans are carrying out a coup d'etat with their voter suppression campaigns under the guise of redistricting and voter roll purges, and this is how fucking dems spend their limited political capital.

We are so goddamn cooked.

these two reps represent auto workers. it shouldn't be shocking that they're doing things that benefit their constituents.

disappointing, yes. but not surprising.
 
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RZetopan

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Not disputing the conclusions, but number of recalls is a bad way to measure reliability. It's a number, not a percentage, and most recalls are very minor. When you make the single best-selling vehicle in the US, one bug in the software ends up being 4.4 million recalls. (Trailer control module in the F150 series, fixed by an over-the-air software update.)
I just noticed a flaw in your above. "one bug in the software ends up being 4.4 million recalls."
You described total recalled vehicles while I was describing different vehicle recalls, not a per-vehicle basis, unless I misunderstood what you were saying.
 
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graylshaped

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I say let's accept the fig leaf of rationalizing this ban via data privacy concerns. The correct answer to such a problem is to pass a robust US version of the GDPR that bans data collection and enforces it consistently. The text of the Fourth Amendment is:
The right of the people to be secure in their persons, houses, papers, and effects, against unreasonable searches and seizures, shall not be violated, and no Warrants shall issue, but upon probable cause, supported by Oath or affirmation, and particularly describing the place to be searched, and the persons or things to be seized.
Emphasis mine. It doesn't say "by the government," does it.
 
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Oldmanalex

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Oldsmobile was the original car company that existed before GM was incorporated. This is why it was desposed of in the reorganisation of GM. Oldsmobiles original sales network, the dealers, where holders of certain clauses in the contracts from the early 1900's that GM wanted out of.
Now I understand why Olds was killed. Back in the day, I used to peruse the Consumer Reports reliability statistics, and one American brand, Olds, was up there with Honda and Toyota, and above all of the European brands. Even for GM, a retaliatory killing seemed a little over the top, but if there was contract-breaking involved, that seems pretty plausible.
 
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phk46

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I grew up in the Detroit area, and I spent time working at each of the big 3, more than 10 years at one of them. I have sympathy for them, but I also believe it tough love.

They also tried to avoid competing with Japanese cars in their heyday. That didn't work. When they finally got serious, and studied how the Japanese were beating them, they were able to up their game and compete.

That is what needs to happen again now - they need to figure out how to compete with the Chinese.
 
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Dr Gitlin

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Shoot you in the street when helping a fellow protestor? Or when driving away in your car? Damn, sorry, that was just here, this year, in Minneapolis. In a country that's already supposedly a democracy.
Sure. The difference being that we can (and will) vote those fuckers out. Good luck doing that in China.
 
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...and what stops these hypothetical PRC agents from putting the surveillance gear in a pelican case and driving across the border in a rental Ford?

It's not like a Chinese EV is going to have cutting-edge hyperspectral imagers and broad-spectrum RF recorders; they'll have the same COTS sensors that you can find in all kinds of gadgets.
That's the best part! We just start banning Chinese from even being in the US. Sure they could recruit other spies, so we ban those nations too. Pretty soon no one is allowed and we're spy free!
 
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archtop

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If you want a tangible means of understanding just how far ahead China is, go to your local Asian food store. If you are lucky, they will stock some ice cream in the frozen section. You may notice some ice creams that look exactly like fruits with nice details. They also taste like the fruits they look like. Be warned, if you try these fruits you will become jaded of scooping the slop from the tub…

Even Chinas ice cream is 50 years ahead of American ice cream technology.
Have you ever tried a Vermont maple creemee?
 
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How many Canadian tourists take a trip to visit Selfridge Air Force base? (The example the senator gave)

I agree that passive surveillance is a more likely threat, but the Senator claimed the threat was someone taking a deliberate trip to observe the airbase using the car's sensors.
Well, since Selfridge is actually an Air National Guard Base and not an Air Force Base, I'd say the threat is pretty minimal, regardless. Nothing there but airframes made in the 1970s and 1980s, i.e., there's nothing there that anyone might even want to spy on.

The Senator is a whackjob, regardless of the party affiliation. Whackjobs, like everything else are on a spectrum of their own and any other affiliation is secondary.
 
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BrewerBob

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I personally owe the domestic car companies a kick in the nuts. Overpriced, unreliable, oversized and inefficient seems to describe most of their current old technology products. Their electric vehicle lineup is just plain miserable and half baked. There is a reason I've been buying import branded cars since I graduated high school - I could afford them on my miserly salary. This hasn't really changed. Detroit no longer makes compact or subcompact cars at all. None.

The idiots in charge of these companies trained us to avoid them and we have. Bring in the Chinese cars. I bet they're as good as anything Detroit makes. Probably better. I currently drive a Volkswagen. A cheap electric would be really cool for my wife as a grocery getter in town.
 
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How are Michigan jobs on the line by simply allowing the cars to be driven in temporarily?

It's great that everyone in the federal government's views on China are based on massive xenophobia.
The fear is, if people see with their own eyes that Chinese cars are pretty good, they will start complaining to their congress people about the ban. Also, banning them from entering the US at all might get some Canadian and Mexican car buyers who have to cross the border a lot to buy American instead.
 
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Here in Europe.

When I bought my BYD Dolphin, VW didn't have anything comparable available. Its equivalent car, the ID.3, was more expensive and technically inferior (NMC vs LFP batteries, no V2L, inferior infotainment, etc.). Below the ID.3, VW had nothing to compete with the BYD Dolphin Surf (a smaller, B-segment car, equivalent to the Polo, very common in Europe).

Today, VW has caught up with BYD. The new ID.3 Neo has a 58 kWh LFP battery (and an optional larger NMC one if you want it), a brand new and very efficient electric motor and good infotainment, as well as V2L. And they have also the new ID.Polo, a beautiful small car with both LFP and NMC batteries. Both cars are still slightly more expensive than BYD (the ID.Polo w.r.t. the Dolphin Surf expecially), but really most people are willing to pay some premium for a VW instead of a Chinese car; also, both the Polo LFP and the ID.3 Neo LFP have faster recharging than the equivalent BYDs.

Do we have tariffs here? Yes, but based on sound economic reasoning. They are calculated to offset the export subsidies that Chinese producers receive. I think it's about 20% for BYD, higher for SAIC and lower for Tesla cars made in China.
All good points. But. I'm struck by the better marketing from BYD. "Dolphin" is such a better name than "ID.3."
 
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frogstomp

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What makes you think our oligarchic, techbro driven dystopia will be any better? Or even different. George Orwell was an optimist.
Nothing, but I don't think America is quite there, yet.
Citizens should note that the value of their democracy may go down as well as up.
 
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Fatesrider

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As if we need to give Canadian visitors more reasons not to come to the US and spend money here? Cross border tourism is generally thought to be a good thing among sane people, which seems to include few politicians lately. Facepalm!
Having seen a few administrations, I've long since come to the conclusion that anyone who WANTS to run for public office should be banned from running for public office for life.

I get the idealists who want to make life better for everyone, but that's not what we get. We get crusaders bolstered by special interests. That's the inevitable result of elections by "the masses" and unlimited spending, thanks to Citizens United.

Most have grown up well-off or wealthy, few have ever lived a "normal" life where poverty was a thing. Lincoln was a very notable exception in that. Few had any experience as a person who had to work for a living.

I think we should draft our politicians, or require them to go through a "this is a normal American life" training program lasting at LEAST four years before they can run for office. The income would be capped at $25,000/year and they can't use any of their own wealth, or donated funds to them during that time. The IRS would make sure anything they got came from the campaign fund, and report any violations. They have to work as a manual labor volunteer. They have to meet attendance requirements to earn the full amount. They don't get paid vacation time or sick time other than what the state mandates. They can cut a year off of that if they don't work a normal daytime shift.

The idea is to rub their noses in what the rest of us typically have to deal with, and how their bullshit political fuckery screws most people - even their own supporters.

The psychopaths would drop out, and good riddance. The elitists would drop out, and good riddance. The true believers would change their tunes rapidly when their fiscal and social safety nets are severed, and drop out, too.

IMHO, a politician can't do shit "for the people" if they don't know what "the people" are experiencing every fucking day. Yes, I know, they don't CARE about the "people" except to get their vote.

I'd personally like to change that so that uncaring psychopaths can't run the fucking country anymore.
 
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I don't agree with them but I can kinda sorta understand the arguments against more foreign cars in the country. But considering how the American car industry has been screwing up my home state of Michigan for at least my entire lifetime it's nearly impossible to fall on their side about anything. Sorry for your troubles big 3, maybe you shouldn't have made so many bad decisions, now kindly go fuck yourselves.
 
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C.M. Allen

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I agree that the fact that they have programs to help people is of course better than not having them at all, but the whole social credit aspect is just dystopianly terrifying!
The US has its own forms of 'social credit' scores. They might not be called that, but if it walks like a duck....
 
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“We’re gonna be aggressive here because Michigan jobs are on the line, but also so is national security."

Senator Slotkin, Michigan jobs would not be on the line if US car manufacturers built cars that were competitive with foreign made vehicles not just on price but also design, manufacturing quality and features. The US believes in the primacy of the free market - and do not bother with the old line about Chinese state subsidies, the US has done the same arguably done more for decades
There is, to be fair, a lot more effective industry subsidy in China, but yeah, mostly the problem is that American car companies have increasingly focused on huge expensive cars catering to one of

  • Those with a lot of money
  • Those with the credit and income to take out a large loan and pay it
  • The men who are insecure about their masculinity and buy a giant car on credit they cant afford just to have a huge car

to chase the highest margins possible and in the end priced themselves completely out of anything but the “gigantic truck/suburbitank” market
 
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