No, it didn?t end in the 70s. And management has NOTHING to do with debacles like that. That?s UAW sloppiness for you, pure and simple.
User merp on this forum is a friend of mine. He bought a 2001 Corvette targa coupe new. He consistently had problems with the thing holding an alignment and kept taking it back. One day he took it back to the dealer for a warrant alignment, went to get out, and bumped the steering wheel - and it *moved*. Yup, some UAW idiot had installed the steering column improperly and the loose/missing fasteners allowed one to move the steering wheel 2? in any direction. Nice, huh?
The car also had the following problems, in his own words:
?The driver?s door trim was off, and melted. Or [more likely], the adhesive was improperly applied and oozed all over the place.
?It ate oil, to a certain degree, about a quart every 3k miles. It?s possible that the engine was misassembled (missing oil rings, some of the F-body guys found they had none and were going through 2 quarts every thousand miles).
?The body panels had horrible alignment; the headlights didn?t seat evenly in the body when closed - lots of fit and finish crap.?
Yeah, and this is the GM/UAW ?flagship product???!?!?!?!?
Also, as late as 2001, S-trucks were coming off the line in Shreveport with beer cans welded inside the rear cab corners. Nice, huh? If your S-truck rattled, it was probably because there was trash welded inside cab panels.