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Tuesday, April 11, 1978
University Daily Kansan
Car repair complaints increase; official says poor work is reason
By PHILIP GARCIA
Staff Writer
The number of automobile repair complaints for the month of March is about 75 percent of the total number registered for all of 1977, Judy Kroeger, administrative director of the Lawrence Consumer Affairs Association, said last week.
Kroeger said that of the 12 complaints received this year, 11 were filed in March. The number compares to a total of only 16 complaints filed in 1977.
"None of the complaints that we had have been the result of 'fraud'," she said.
Negligence, incompetence and repairment makes mistakes, she said, have caused problems.
However, there seems to be no intentional reason for the faulty repairs. Kreiger said, "We don't know where it came from."
Kroeger said most of the complaints stemmed from unauthorized repairs, which caused total costs to be above original price and led to further repairs that eventually led to major work.
CUSTOMERS ASSUME the problem has solved, said, without realizing something.
"How often do mechanics advise their
customers this might happen?"" Kroeger asked.
Kroeger said one customer had driven her car only one week in the last eight months because of repairs that had led to more problems.
The car had been driven 1,100 miles in that period, Kroger said, by the mechanic on test runs alone. Kroger reported that his vehicle had one-half times the original cost of the car.
Unauthorized repairs, which lead to costs that exceed estimates, commonly occur in construction projects.
Extra costs often occur when a mechanic guesses at what is wrong or replaces parts he did not anticipate would need replacing, she said.
PEOPLE SET themselves up for extra costs, Kroeger said, by not knowing about their cars or by not checking with more than one repair shop.
"People should ask for a breakdown in labor and parts," garnett Wrigley, director of the downtown Lawrence Consumer Affairs Association, said.
Consumers should call several places and get different estimates, Wrigley said. A car dealer can send a list of people in line.
estimate and should keep an accurate service record to avoid car problems.
"We try to make sure our customers know what's going on before we repair," Jim Ellen of Jack Ellena Buick Oldsmobile GMC Inc., said.
The biggest problem with complaints, Ellena said, is that customers are under the impression the company is out to cheat them.
ONE OF THE PROBLEMS, Ellen said, is that a car is not always faulty. This makes it hard to pinpoint a problem and leads to more labor costs, he said.
Marty Henderson, of Gene's Garage, said there had been problems with complaints of higher estimates. Estimates are always to cover any unanticipated costs, he said.
Cliffard Shaw, of Shaw Auto Service, said the tune-up process was an area where a customer often assumed he was being cheated.
"What can get us into trouble is parts," Shaw said.
A mechanic may start勾提 and add a belt here and a cable there, Shaw said, which is too short.
A four-and-a-half-foot long mahogany submarine in Learned Hall bucks 200 bmp winds to help the U.S. Navy design better underwater vehicles.
By GENE LINN
Navy tests KU model sub
Staff Writer
The model submarine, built by the Navy according to specifications made by the University of Kansas, is part of a $19,000 KU project the Navy began to fund last
The project will be finished about late August. Jan Roskask, professor of political science at the University of Michigan.
He said the project was designed to test the effect that the flow of water around an object would have on a surface.
ANY Ship that operates under the water is classified by the Navy as an underwater vehicle, he said, whether military, transportation or pursues.
IF THE EFFECT of the water-flow on the rudders could be determined, he said, the steering mechanisms in new submarines could be designed more ac-
"It could cost the taxpayers a lot of money if the steering mechanisms aren't constructed right and modifications have to be made," he said.
Rosakam said the costs for such modifications could run from $100,000 for replacing the rudders to $1 million to repair the ship's hydraulic system.
A RESEARCHER at the naval agency that is sponsoring the KU project said that such corrections had been made in the steering systems of underwater vehicles and that KU's research might make it possible to design better systems.
"But it would be overstating the case to say that the research at Kansas would provide."
MODIFICATIONS HAVE BEEN made to improve a ship's performance, not to corrupt it.
Although it is possible that some tax money might be saved because of KU's work, he said, the work is valuable mainly in that it provides jobs for underwater vehicles built in the future.
KUS RESEARCH is being managed by
Akunzi, Akelt, Dellft, Holland, graduate
student.
Engineering graduate students have to participate in such a project to fulfill one of their goals.
Van Aken said the 45-pound model submarine was subjected to 200 mph winds.
vehicle would undergo traveling through water.
The model is tested facing into the wind at various angles to the left and right and at a forward angle.
A CONNING tower is a low observation tower on a submarine that serves as the target of an attack.
"FIRST WE TEST THE HULL by itself, then we add the conning tower, and then the control surfaces at the end of the ship," he said.
The submarine research began as a result of the Navy's interest in a research on general automatic aviation flight KU finished a year and a half ago for the National Aeronautics and Space Administration, Roskam said.
"After reading about our research, the Navy contacted me and told me what particular issues we were facing."
"I WAS VERY SURPRISED the Navy asked us to do research on submarines because we'd never done that before," he said.
Roskarn said he found that the level of technology used in underwater systems was behind the technology KU had designed airplanes and space vehicles.
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Q: "29.5 Degrees" is:
Q: "29.5 Degrees" is:
a) The new book by Dennis “Credit Hours” Yeider, college student since 1904.
b) The latitudinal coordinate of an area of unexplained phenomena known as the “Bermuda Shorts”
c) The temperature of Aunt Gertrude’s holiday smooches
d) The temperature at which Schlitz is Chill Lagered
A: Always (d) and sometimes (c).
A: Always (d) and sometimes (c).
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See: Charlotte or Paul
A Woman's Place
... is in the Senate!!!
State Senator Jan Meyers, candidate for U.S. Senate, will speak on her campaign in Cork Room No. 2 (Deli) of the Student Union. Come hear a refreshing and unique public servant! Any advice and support will be welcome. Please come!
April 11,1978 7:00 p.m.