Comment by themacguffinman
4 years ago
You don't have to be literally sued for this kind of thing to be a liability. Companies don't like this because even if they don't get sued, it becomes a PR liability when they get a reputation. When the average buyer sees that a product gets a lot of accidents, they're not going to put on their detective hat and spend much time getting to the bottom of "is this reputation truly deserved? was it the customer's fault?"
> People modify vehicles all the time and it causes unsafe driving that can lead to collisions.
Yeah, and car companies don't support these mods. Also, mods that cause unsafe driving are often literally illegal: not only will you be unsupported, the government will punish you for using these mods. Because it's really dangerous and modern Western society generally agrees that it's not okay to let people fuck themselves that easily even if it was their own choice. How dangerous are Minecraft mods?
> it becomes a PR liability when they get a reputation
This would rather be positive for PR. The news will talk about it, about how dangerous this is, then they come out with the real story, where the customer did some modifications, that the product is 100% safe if it is left the way they sell it.
That "real story" update often doesn't seem to happen, or is far less visible than the original not-the-whole-story story.
That only works for those who read all of the article, not just the headline. Even worse, the correction might be in another article...
For as long as I can remember the minute a vechicle (Hot rod cars basically) are modified to go faster, or different than stock; the public blames the guy who modified the car.
I really doubt the public is going to blame OneWheel for a product that was monkeyed with.
I felt for awhile now that if Tesla let home mechanics modify their Salvage vechicles; they would have brought more guys like myself into their product.
I know what you guys are thinking. Elon doesn't need anymore success. He might in a decade from now maybe. Getting guys who work on their own vechicles in his boathouse seems like it would be a good idea.
(Personally I don't buy anything I can't work on, or modify. It not even that Zen and Motorcycle Mechanics philosophy. It's about money. I'm poor, and can't afford to not repair my big purchases.)