Fits and finishes

[chivers]

I have wondered why we agree that the A2 is well designed, but then agree there are frequent problems with turbocompressor valves, Open-sky roof adjustments, etc. (to name only problems I have had.) Recently I saw an article in <<Le Moniteur Automobile>> which talked about "Fits and finishes." In part it said

"The Japanese are maniacs on the issue of quality and are very demanding as to the care taken with the finish of their cars. That implies that the gap between panels must be even everywhere and in no case may exceed 3.5mm. In the jargon of carmakers one speaks of "fits and finishes." It concerns details of which the average european user takes little interest, or at least not yet,,, Ferdinand Piech, on his promotion to the board of the VW group in 1993 made "fits and finishes" one of his priorities. The goal was to reach gaps between panels of only 1mm, modelled on the japanese.

"In fact this approach has been shown to be incorect. At the japanese factories the tight and even gaps between body panels are not an end in themselves, but more an automatic result of a constant quest for quality and precision workmanship throughout the production process. If one works to very tight tolerances from the pressing to the welding of the finished panels then the narrow and even gaps are more or less an automatic result, and not the result of a specific quality target.

"But is this so important for the buyer? Does it make the car run better or make it more durable? No, obviously not, apart from a possible increase in wind noise if the gaps between the body panels are too large. Narrow and even panel joints are, it is said, the result of precision engineering: they are a kind of visible guarantee of quality construction and finish of the invisible elements. This is the difference between "in-built quality" and "built-in quality."" (my emphasis.)

Do you agree?

Chivers ''
'02 A2 1.4TDi SE

 

[Will]

The issue of fits and finishes applies to many aspects of a vehicle's manufacturing and not only the visual parts. For example, the major structural parts that are welded up to construct the chassis or body-in-white, need to be assembled to tight tolerances otherwise the closures and in fact almost every other part that is bolted onto it will not function correct or as efficiently as desired. Normally though rather than trying to eliminate these tolerances you just need to understand and manage them. As a basic example, where you pass a bolt through part you make the hole oval shape and not an exact circular hole. There are in fact whole departments in the OEMs which analyse tolerances.

Whether the Japanese are better than the Europeans at manufacturing ‘quality’ cars I guess is shown up in the JD Power surveys. Though you need to analyse the results carefully and be aware of the heavy weighting some categories are given, to appreciate the results. Only recently some Japanese companies have been exposed for faking reliable results!

Generally though I feel too much emphasis is given to the car’s badge and the implied quality that is associated with it. I don’t believe a Golf is really so much better than a Focus to warrant the price differential. But yet many customers do, so it’s back to supply and demand and not purely quality that drives these sales.