Spirituality is changing because of the Information Age. It is all becoming "me" centred.

Information Age Spirituality: Personalized religion is here to stay.

by Tom Thorne

In the past I have made the point that one of the outcomes of the Information Age is a more personal focus on all aspects of life. This situation is brought about by highly personalized digital media largely focused on the individual and their needs and wants. Life events are focused as a series of "selfies".

This phenomenon may account for the much more personal view that people have towards how they see metaphysics and God. They now do not need a church liturgy or structure to have highly personalized ideas about spirituality and ethical behaviours. They can do it themselves without the benefit of clergy or if they go to a church for help they ask clergy to adapt to their personal spiritual and religious ideas.

Pentecostal church attendance has grown mainly because they enable ways for people to define and focus their personal views and find their way to come to Jesus. Other churches maintain a formula way to God which has less appeal than finding your personal Saviour.

Churches with hierarchical liturgies are in decline because contemporary people have to fit into a way of thinking rather than define and tailor their own. Decline is also partially due in North America and Europe to an aging demographic. Younger people are less evident in hierarchical places of worship. 

However, they seem to have a sense that life, death, and events like births,  and marriages need some kind of ceremony. The actual regular attendance at churches and other places of worship has fallen off. Church is now a drop in centre where liturgical services are accessed as needed.

This change may be a result of the downgraded  influence and importance of hierarchical structures in daily life. It may also be  the general dislike people now have for top down ways to worship. One thing is certain attendance at church is falling as most clergy can attest. 

Because people do not attend places of worship it does not mean that they have abandoned goodness or abandoned themselves to wanton lifestyles. They have personalized how they deal with ethical matters and religious ideas.  Some see nature as a spiritual experience. Some focus on their families and children without the benefit of clergy and formal churches, often bringing up highly motivated and ethical children. Church is often Christmas and Easter services that evoke some ethereal connection to another time and place. 

They don't like rituals or formal services. They tend to take over wedding liturgies of churches and tailor them with their own vows to each other. They ask traditional clergy to do untraditional things with their formal services such as having a wedding outside of the church or allowing people to comment and make highly personal commitments concerning their union.

I have seen a Roman Catholic priest deal with two funerals both held at a funeral home. The children provided input to the priest about what they wanted to do for their parent's funeral and the priest wove the traditional Catholic commitment service into their ideas as best he could. When I quizzed the priest about this he said that he would rather do something than nothing. He also said that the children had no real idea about Catholic practice for a funeral and so the starting point was to listen to what they wanted. The children simply wanted to honour their parents who were practicing Catholics.

Nothing was really compromised. The service turned out to be respectful and a refreshing celebration of life. It never occurred to the children that what they wanted for their parent's funeral was wrong or stressed out any church principles. They personalized what they thought was appropriate and in this case it turned out well if not really a traditional Catholic funeral.

Doing your own thing is an effect of the Information Age. If you need a wedding or a funeral you Google the topic where you will find a plethora of notions, ideas and ways to do the job. Then you pick and choose what you think is appropriate for you. It is very "me" focused which is a feature of the children of the Information Age. Information technologies are so ubiquitous today that they will be the toolkit to redefine deeper thoughts and spirituality of their users.

© Copyright 2014, Tom Thorne, All Rights Reserved.

Rethinking aboriginal education may need more than Bill 33. The federal government should transfer aboriginal education to the provinces. Then the funding would be equitable.

Well educated aboriginal youth are the key to Canada's 

prosperity and the security of aboriginal culture.

A modest proposal for First Nation education.

by Tom Thorne

The Federal Government has jurisdiction over First Nation’s education. Over the years funding for this activity has remained at about 50 percent of the provincial funding per student compared with the rest of Canadians. This is clearly inequitable and unacceptable in contemporary Canada.

The federal government, allegedly  because of the resignation of Assembly of First Nations grand chief Shawn Atleo, is sitting on Bill 33 until the native organization or chiefs can decide what their views of this education legislation will finally be. In short any hope for improvement to native education controlled by the Federal Government is now in limbo. However this legislation only continues federal control of education funding to status native people. That needs to change.

Native Canadians are caught in the wiles and tortured history of the federal Indian Act. They retain even with this new Bill 33 a paternal relationship with the Federal Government that at this time is becoming untenable. The federal government through the Minister of Aboriginal Affairs and Northern Development retains funding control over status first nations education.

My modest proposal is straight forward. Since education is a provincial responsibility and native people have the franchise in both federal and provincial elections like all Canadians, it is a simple matter to transfer the responsibility for education to the provinces. That act would ensure that native students receive equitable funding per student. The federal government can transfer their funding to provincial ministries of education. Reserves could have their own school boards.

The truth is many native status people already access provincially funded educational services especially at the secondary and post secondary level. This change of jurisdiction from federal to provincial would mean that equitable funding for K-12 would be in place for all native students. Each provincial curricula could include useful course material about native history and issues. In some cases, such as Ontario, this has already happened.

Ultimately the history of the Indian Act and all other land settlements with First Nations creates a kind of apartheid in Canada. At some point all Canadians must share equitable access to services such as education and health. The special status either from treaties or from land claims with native people in this country is a hinderance to a long range view of equity for all Canadian citizens including aboriginal people.

In the future Canadians from all origins should share a common set of services from their federal and provincial governments. This does not mean that aboriginal people surrender their heritage and culture. It doesn't mean that they have to experience a melting pot. What it does mean is native Canadians get equal opportunity for education that is properly funded by the provinces.

Ultimately aboriginal Canadians must be seen as full Canadian citizens not wards of the state. This means that there will have to be a special effort to reach remote reserves with educational services that are equal in quality and funding to any other Canadian citizen's rights. Much could be done to enable this by skillful use of the Internet and other educational media to bring contemporary curricula to remote reserves.

The poverty found on remote reserves in this country is appalling. The biggest contributor to this poverty is the lack of meaningful education and the aggravated drop out rate of aboriginal teenagers who lose hope. 

Infrastructure issues such as good housing and water are simply unacceptable if students on these remote reserves are to really benefit from educational services. However education is always a weapon to break poverty cycles and it should now be delivered to status native people by each provincial education ministry not the federal government. 

© Copyright 2014, Tom Thorne, All Rights Reserved.

The Rob and Doug Ford show descends to new levels of despair. Is there any rehab for this new revelation?

Rob and Doug Ford share equally in the public relations

nightmare they have created for The City of Toronto.

Rob Ford: A public and media relations debacle.

by Tom Thorne

Ho hum. In this morning's Globe and Mail there is a story about Rob Ford yet again. This time the Globe and Mail alleges that while the mayor and his brother Doug served as members of Toronto City Council they helped a client of their private business, Deco Labels and Tags, get a tax break from city officials.

This type of story combined with Rob Ford's various escapades with public drunkenness and alleged use of illegal drugs would have killed the political prospects of most politicians.

Rob Ford’s blatantness and penchant for saying he is sorry over and over seems to set him up for some kind of sympathy if not with fellow politicians certainly with some segments of his "Ford Nation" constituency. 

Just what sticks in the minds of the "Ford Nation" seems to be a kind of mindless approval of a big guy on a constant tear just being good old Rob. Well now that Rob Ford is in rehab there may be some hope that what emerges from this process will be a more reasonable and level headed Rob Ford.

While Rob Ford is in rehab his name remains on the ballot as a candidate for mayor of Toronto this fall. While he undergoes treatment for his addictions we are still faced with the prospect that he will emerge for the election a newly made man. A kind of Ford phoenix rising from his ashes of excess.

That may suit the "Ford Nation" people who will see him as refreshed and ready to take on the big spenders again at Toronto City Hall. His return to active politics has however wider implications for the good name of Toronto.

Rob Ford and his antics has sullied the name of Toronto not only here but in the United States and around the world. The fact that he couldn't be removed from office at the height of his goofy antics makes Toronto and Ontario look bad and ineffective.

The optics of Rob Ford re-elected this fall is a way for Toronto to fall further as a world class city. Rob Ford's buffoonery on US network television earlier this year was a net loss for Toronto. There is no way that any amount of public and media relations work can rebuild any kind of reputation for Toronto if Rob Ford is returned as mayor.

If his brother Doug Ford, now a Toronto city councillor, threw his hat into the mayoral ring rather than Rob Ford that might be marginally better. However Doug Ford is also stained with Rob's antics because Doug is his constant apologizer and protector. From a public and media relations point of view both Ford brothers are tainted and carry too much negative baggage.

Doug Ford would carry the baggage of his brother he he made an attempt to run for mayor instead of Rob.  Now with new allegations this morning the Fords look like political dynamite with a lit fuse.

What ever happens with the Fords the City of Toronto loses. It is a public and media relations lose-lose proposition. They can only bluff and duck allegations  about what has happened before Rob Ford entered rehab. Now with this new concern today bluff and bravado won’t do it anymore.

Toronto needs a Ford free civic election this fall if there is any hope of recouping the damage of the last year or so. No amount of Ford bluster or promises can do anything positive for the City of Toronto. The Ford brothers should return to the label business which would go a long way to help Toronto recover its reputation as a world class city.

© Copyright 2014, Tom Thorne, All Rights Reserved.

Premier Pauline Marois allowed the separatist agenda to surface in the Quebec election. With all the parties running she is now guaranteed a minority government on 7 April.

Where the rubber hits the road on 7 April.

Premier Pauline Marois fades star candidate Pierre Karl Péladeau into the background. She knows that she cannot sell separatism that blatantly on the campaign trail.

by Tom Thorne

Quebec Premier Pauline Marois in her bid for a majority government has inadvertently  opened the separatism can of worms by mismanaging her star candidate Pierre Karl Péladeau. That can of worms can sink her hopes of getting a majority in the National Assembly.  

A few days after the Pierre Karl Péladeau announcement as a Parti Quebecois candidate, Madame Marois’ pushy body language was in evidence to keep Péladeau away from microphones. She literally pulled him out of the way at one campaign stop for fear that he would declare for “mon pays” again.

How to go from star candidate with a separatist stance to a guy with too big a mouth even for Pauline Marois. He has a lot to learn about politics especially in Quebec where separatism is coded and guarded like a sacred cause by its dropping numbers of adherents.  

Later on CBC’s coverage of the Quebec leadership debate Madame Marois sidestepped a referendum for separatism question by saying “only when it is right”. And what does that mean? Separatism is always cryptic and nuanced mainly because it is the idea that rarely can speak its name without losing votes.

Well I think we know that if Madame Marois gets a majority government she will find a way to “make it right”. She is bent on separatism and to be the politician to take Quebec out of Canada is guaranteed to be too much of a temptation to be resisted if she does get a majority on 7 April. 

In other pieces still available on this blog I have shown that Quebec separatism is a flawed concept in the Canadian context. In a federal state with provincial governments they are set up to enable parts of the country to celebrate their differences from other Canadians while at the same time always celebrating Canada as a whole. For example, who could deny that Newfoundland is a “distinct society”?  They are as distinct as Quebec by any standard.

While there are differences across the country there is also much that welds the federation together. Quebeckers inherently know that and the small group of zealots who make up the separatist hard core denies this aspect of Canada as the only way to make their argument. That is the basic political flaw in separatism and its rhetoric.

To hear a separatist talk one would think that pride in being a Quebecker is denied by the rest of Canada. This is pure nonsense. The notion of “mon pays” is often connected negatively with an old Quebec where admittedly French Canadians had equity difficulties with English community in the Province. That time is gone. The wound is healed. Separatism thinking today is a Band-aid on a healed wound.

The Quiet Revolution took hold. The Catholic Church’s grip on Quebec wained to the point now that Madame Marois is determined to put the last secular nail in its coffin along with all other faiths. The Parti Quebecois secular charter sits in the legislative slip only awaiting a majority to make it law.

This secular charter can also be connected to forging “mon pays”. It goes against the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms and national multicultural policies.  It focuses Quebec as different and distinct and forms part of the separatist ethos along the lines of an iceberg where most of its reasons for its existence lie below the separatist waterline.

The Parti Quebecois claims that it has a lot of support for its secular charter ideas. the voters will speak on this soon enough. This charter if passed, is anti-Canadian and bordering on the xenophobic. Quebeckers are much bigger than this sort of small thinking and on April 7 their election will reflect a more inclusive Quebec.

Marois Government has only been in power for 18 months or so. In that time they have managed to submerge major economic, energy, education, environmental, health, and aging population issues by emphasizing secular state legislation. Their re-election certainly as a majority is in doubt now because they slipped on the separatist issue and they have little to offer as provincial revenues continue to drop. 

Comments: thorne.ejournal.tom@gmail.com

© Copyright Tom Thorne 2014, All Rights Reserved

Quebec businessman Pierre Karl Péladeau runs for the Parti Quebecois. Now the left hand knows what the right hand is doing for the separatist agenda in Quebec.

Pierre Karl Péladeau: Premier Pauline Marois needs to watch out for

her job with this Parti Quebecois candidate on her team.

Premier Pauline Marois snags a big fish for April 7 election. Is Pierre Karl Péladeau the key to Pandora’s Separation Box? It is time to stand up a third time for Canada.

by Tom Thorne

Premier Pauline Marois just got a present. Days after announcing her election call over her divisive policies to secularize Quebec society, she found a way to really take the heat off these silly ideas. Pierre Karl Péladeau has decided to enter politics declaring as he does that he supports the separatist agenda to take Quebec out of Canada. 

Péladeau of course is a well known and connected businessman with vast communications holdings (Quebecor) not only in Quebec but across the rest of Canada. If you have found yourself in the separatist camp, then the only Quebec party with separatist ambitions is the one you join. Given Péladeau’s orientation to the right of centre along with his union busting credentials, I suspect that he is holding his nose as he supports the Party Quebecois known for its leanings to the left of the political spectrum.

It is now even more essential than ever for Quebeckers to deny Madame Marois a majority government on April 7. It all comes at a bad time for federalists at the national and provincial levels. The lacklustre grey government of Stephen Harper has no clout in Quebec holding only five seats and very little credibility.

The New Democratic Party (NDP) is a Quebec federal presence in Ottawa but it also relies on soft Quebec nationalism-sovereigntist sentiments to keep that presence intact. Prime Minister Harper had a recent con-flab with NDP federal leader Thomas Mulcair to explore what can be done to stem the rising separatist tide in Quebec since the federal Conservatives have little influence. That meeting just signals desperation from Prime Minister Stephen Harper who is as popular as the plague in Quebec. 

The federal Liberals have yet to be tested under Justin Trudeau in Quebec so even with his family and the Liberal Party’s traditions for federalism, he will also be treading softly. Where will the energy come from to promote Quebec remaining in Canada? I suspect that it will be the likes of former Prime Ministers Brian Mulroney and Jean Chretien. However as vice chair of Péladeau’s Quebecor empire Brian Mulroney is compromised and will have to take on the fact that Canada has been dealt a body blow by this peculiar Péladeau-Marois alliance. Mulroney has personal and political decisions to make that may not be easy.

This entry of a major Quebec businessman as a declared separatist can only serve to bring real federalists out into the open. There can be no soft pedalling when war is declared like this by Madame Marois. I have predicted this situation arising in this space before. However, I must confess the Péladeau entry into the fray escaped me. I would have thought that he would find the Parti Quebecois too left wing for his taste. 

The fact is Péladeau is more inclined to think like Stephen Harper. It surprises me that he would even consider the Parti Quebecois as his political home unless he is leading his life now with his heart rather than his head. That could be his undoing as a neophyte politician. He has now declared for separatism.It will be hard to back off from that stance in the future. It also means that his federalist friends and business associates will have to distance themselves or be compromised.

Remember Lucien Bouchard? He was another disappointment for Brian Mulroney who had him in his federal cabinet when he was Prime Minister. Bouchard also went towards the separatist option and that decision took us all to the brink in 1995.

I can only reflect that underneath a lot of Quebeckers lies a nationalist sentiment that given the right time in the life or political cycle surfaces and threatens to manifest itself as separatism. Usually it is frustration with Ottawa that makes this happen and Stephen Harper has certainly found little support for his right wing agenda in Quebec. That may be what has occurred in the case of Pierre Karl Péladeau. This flirtation with separatism may be part of the Quebec soul that rises from from time to time to catch Stephen Harper asleep at the Quebec switch. This new situation can alter Harper's plans for the 2015 federal general election.

On a more practical and mundane point does Madame Marois understand who she is offering her job to when she recruits Péladeau? I don’t think that he will want to be simply a cabinet minister. He wants to be premier and if you can really believe his separatism. His real goal must be to become President of the new Quebec state. At 52 that is possible in his lifetime.

Of course Péladeau has to win a seat in the National Assembly in order for his political aspirations to bud or even begin to flower. It should be the job of the federalist opposition to do everything they can to deny him election. And since Madame Marois has really now thrown down the separatist gauntlet, the hypocrisy of her government is now easier to see and to counter. Péladeau whatever his personal motives, focuses the real agenda of Marois and the Parti Quebecois on separatism. It clears the air of vacillation on this topic.

What her proposed legislation says about the secularization of Quebec at the expense of minorities, along with her election call means that the bill is still not passed yet by the National Assembly. If she gets a majority this legislation will be toughened along with new laws to strengthen the French Language. Look for Bill 101 Redux.  Combine that with her Péladeau gambit it becomes clear that we are into a round of political gamesmanship where the focus is on separatism and not the economy or pressing issues such as youth under employment, the implications of an aging population and the environment.

In short this is a ruse to take the heat off her government. Péladeau is window dressing at the moment but his entry into politics is key to his sentimental side not his business side. He is like a Janus. One head is all business. One head is all heart as a loyal Quebec separatist. His media holdings in Quebecor are still in his hands. As a new politician that is also a concern. How independent are his newsrooms even if he places his Quebecor shares in escrow? And how does he balance his Sun Media part of his empire when they were specifically set up to cover news from a right wing perspective? It is all very schizophrenic.

A Péladeau failure at the polls would send him back to the business world with a bad taste in his mouth and a reputation as a separatist which might not go down so well in the financial community. I have a feeling that his attitude would be business as usual. If he wins a seat and Madame Marois gets a majority government, then the gloves are off and we are into a third referendum for separation for certain. If the separatists lose this time then three strikes and you are out can only be the result.

There is a mood in the rest of Canada to let Quebec go this time if that is what they want. Canadians are tired of the separatist rhetoric and faulty view of our mutual history and constitutional law over the past 255 years. The Canadian federation takes hard work to keep operating for the benefit of all Canadians. 

It doesn’t help to experience jingoistic separatist rhetoric that is pointless when separatism really means keeping economic and currency union with the rest of Canada anyway. Then we get the “sovereignty” option which the Canadian Constitution already recognizes with language, civil law and dare we say it in light to the Parti Quebecois ideas about a secular state, enshrined religious rights guaranteeing Catholicism dating back to the 1763 Treaty of Utrecht and rolled into the British North America Act 1867 and the new Canadian Consitution.

Quebec separatism notions are based on complex cultural origins and in many cases  angst. They deny our common positive history as Canadians and stress our differences and slights rather than our best historical moments together. In a federation we must always look for what binds us rather than what pulls us apart.  Separatists deny our connections and they make us all smaller and more petty in North America and across the world. Canadians and Canadiens are much better than that. On April 7 Quebeckers need to consider how serious this election really is for Canada and their province.

© Copyright 2014, Tom Thorne, All Rights Reserved.

When will Hyundai offer their customer a full report about the 2013 Sonata spontaneous fire? Will they ever make a public statement?

The scorched trunk of the 2013 Hyundai Sonata along with 

the intact engine compartment can reveal clues about how the fire started. 

Good quality public and media relations. I advise Hyundai to take the high road concerning spontaneous Sonata fires.

by Tom Thorne

Good quality public and media relations is a topic I know something about. In my work life I have done this kind of work for theatres, photo manufacturers, educational broadcasters and also taught courses at the college level on both topics. I have had my share of public and media relations problems to deal with.

One aspect of public and media relations I subscribe to is always tell the truth and admit your failures and problems and own up to them. Of course other managers do not always appreciate this type of high minded public and media relations and will tell you when you propose such a plan that to tell the truth or admit anything may make the company liable for legal suits and also lose business. 

Usually managerial embarrassment and doses of disbelief and denial are at the root of poor public and media relations responses. Shame combined with denial can be lethal. However if your products or services don’t make the grade or fail miserably then owning up remains the best and ultimately the only policy if you want to remain in business with credibility.

When some years ago Maple Leaf Foods had Listeria food poisoning in their already distributed products they told the truth and said exactly what they intended to do about the problem. They protected the public, accepted responsibility for the deaths involved and gained our respect. Very tough to do. A pithy Reuters story relating this Maple Leaf experience can be read at:

http://ca.reuters.com/article/domesticNews/idCAN2748151920080827

Many readers probably remember the Tylenol poisoning murders. People died who used these spiked vials of Tylenol. The outcome was one of the most daring public and media relations operations in American business history. Good quality public and media relations worked so well that the trade name Tylenol survived this terrible experience and is used as a trusted brand to this day.

This problem properly managed is a classic case of good public and media relations work in action and the way it was handled pioneered safety packaging that is used by the over the counter and prescription drug industry to this day. See more detail on this at: 

 http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chicago_Tylenol_murders

So that brings me to my current set of stories about the Hyundai Sonata spontaneous fires and other incidents Hyundai and other car manufacturers have had. Readers can find these stories below in recent posts.

I keep asking the question what does Hyundai normally do when one of their cars ignites spontaneously?  Their answer to date is that they take the problem seriously and will deal only with the customer with the problem. I have suggested to them in this blog that they may wish to retrieve the car in question and analyze what happened to it since the fire gutted the interior and the engine compartment remained intact. When they know how this all happened they should publicize this information with their remedy.

I have information that Hyundai did visit the burned out car stored at a Belleville, Ontario wrecker but the car is still there. Apparently it has been visited by the insurance company, Hyundai and “some engineers” according to my source. Of course it has been visited by the driver and myself to photograph the remains. As of 16 February 2013 the car has been seen by Hyundai but not purchased for any information it may yield if it was examined further at a forensic Hyundai research laboratory.  

My research into car computer systems reveals that many new cars of the road today have up to 50 CPUs (central processing units) built into them and one main box with a computer to control these sub systems. Mechanics can analyze a car’s need for maintenance or a malfunctioning part by plugging into these systems for a read out. Dealers have this level of analytical systems at their service centres.

Knowing this my question based on good public and media relations principles is to ask first has Hyundai done this to the compromised vehicle that rests in a Belleville wrecking yard? Do they take the car to a forensic lab for analysis and read out from its systems that seemingly malfunctioned? No direct answer to these questions has been forthcoming to this point of time.

All we get is that Hyundai in this case is “concerned” and after my first articles told me by email they intend to do more analysis of the car with the results of their tests would be communicated to the customer at some point. If that happens I will then see those results so they may as well tell me the results at the same time.

Here is the email trail I got after I contacted Hyundai on 31 January 2014. My contact is Chad Heard:

From Tom Thorne:

I am covering recent Hyundai fires on my blog www.tomthorneejournal.blogspot.com  The two stories I have done concern Hyundai cars that have ignited spontaneously for no apparent reason. My question to Hyundai is what do you do with the cars after this happens? Do you buy them back and take them to a lab for analysis? I understand a car setting on fire after a collision but the two examples and the others I have found are not collisions. Therefore I ask what is the Hyundai procedure after such an event especially when it is a failure due to Hyundai’s current engineering, sourcing or manufacturing practices. 

My other question is how are customers who experience one of these fires usually compensated by Hyundai when the insurance companies seem to cover only the book value of the car at the time of the problem. Customers obviously experience other losses, money paid out by monthly payments for example until the date of the fire. In short, do you have a policy to cover this kind of problem and what is it?

Thanks 

Tom Thorne

Here is the reply from Hyundai’s Chad Heard on 31 January 2014:

Tom, Thanks for the e-mail and the questions. As with all feedback that is received, the company works with customers on an individual basis. Please find attached a statement the company has prepared for your blog.

Chad Heard

Public Relations Manager

Hyundai Auto Canada Corp.

Attached to the first email I got from Chad Heard is this statement:

Hyundai Auto Canada appreciates the opportunity to respond. The company certainly understands how an experience as described in your article can be one of great concern to customers. This is a serious matter and Hyundai Auto Canada is committed to a full and proper investigation of the vehicle and will communicate directly with the customer as information becomes available.  - Hyundai Auto Canada Corp.

I can understand the customer getting a report but that does not solve the problem for the car buying public. And what exactly comprises “a full and proper investigation of the vehicle” if it remains at the wrecker subjected to the Canadian winter? Surely the wreck should be taken to a warm garage for a deep analysis of its computer systems? 

Hyundai has public responsibilities as well as their relationship with a customer.  They have this public responsibility as well as customer responsibility because they sell cars to the public with claiming only good things for their vehicles. They need to show in a tangible public way how “serious” they are concerning these spontaneous fires.

When their cars spontaneously ignite they should be warning people with them and potential new customers. They need a reengineering and a subsequent recall once they discern what happens in these spontaneous fires. Will they do this? Will they publicly admit that they have a problem?

What is very interesting is the recent Hyundai $400 million US class action settlement for erroneous gas milage claims that Hyundai is currently paying out to their customers. Gas milage problems pale in comparison to the spontaneous fires reported here. What processes does Hyundai management enact when their cars experience these fires? Their statement that they deal one on one with their affected customers and public admission of their “concern” does little to really enact a public and media relations program that can ease the concern of those driving their cars or more importantly, thinking of buying one.

© Copyright 2014, Tom Thorne, All rights reserved.

More on the 2013 Hyundai Sonata fire. The burnt out car offers an intact engine for serious analysis of the car's computer.

The engine of the burnt out 2013 Hyundai Sonata is intact. 

An opportunity for some real analysis about how and why the fire occurred.

What Hyundai should do about their spontaneous car fires.

by Tom Thorne

I received the following email from Hyundai Auto Canada Corp. after I asked them what they normally do after a spontaneous fire breaks out in one of their cars:

“Hyundai Auto Canada appreciates the opportunity to respond. The company certainly understands how an experience as described in your article can be one of great concern to customers. This is a serious matter and Hyundai Auto Canada is committed to a full and proper investigation of the vehicle and will communicate directly with the customer as information becomes available”.  Hyundai Auto Canada Corp.

I still ask one main question to account for about 32 percent of car fires that are spontaneous.  What  precisely do the manufacturers of these cars do with the burnt out hulks? Do they take them to their laboratory to try to find out why these fires occur for no apparent reason? We now know that in the case of the fire I reported on 25 January 2014 that Hyundai had the car examined on 28 January 2014 and the report of that work is now pending.

It remains to be seen if this report done by Hyundai offers any explanation or guide to what happened. When a car ignites after a collision that is something that we can understand. Although even that kind of fire should be made less likely by engineering and thinking through better car design that defeats fires under any circumstance. 

When the fire starts for no apparent reason while the car is simply parked, warming up or driving, then that is simply a reason that needs intense research about the systems that run contemporary cars. In the comments at the end of the this story I have such a case. This is especially needed in low milage new cars that fail this badly. If a car is old, then a fault of this kind could perhaps happen due to aging components and wear and tear.

These new car fires also suggests wiring and its connections to onboard computers needs a rethink. This Hyundai Sonata car enables that work to be done because the engine compartment did not burn as the photograph with this story show clearly. Check this reference about the complexity of contemporary car microprocessors: 

http://auto.howstuffworks.com/under-the-hood/trends-innovations/car-computer.htm

The software and hardware it controls runs the systems in a contemporary car is much more complicated than ever before. It it fails then the systems shut down. If the systems shut down then windows and doors fail and cannot be opened which is the case in this fire for the back passenger doors. Despite an intact and unburned engine, control of the car failed completely.

And why are cars finished with plastics and fabrics that burn easily when exposed to overheated wires? And why are those wires close to anything that can ignite? Why can’t fire retardant plastics and fabrics be better developed? Why does the software when it closes down, allow systems to continue working and malfunction to the point that wires or electrical connections can be allowed to overheat?

1,743,112 Cars  and light vehicles were sold in Canada in 2013 an increase of four percent over 2012. Hyundai’s share of this market was 137,100 units and increase of .6 percent over 2012. They sell cars in almost the same volumes as Toyota and Honda, and enjoy almost half the sales of Chrysler, General Motors and Ford. 

If you add Hyundai’s other car company Kia with sales of 72,449 units in 2013 together they control almost 13 percent of the Canadian light motor vehicle market. These figures are from Derosiers automotive reports and they show Hyundai-Kia to be a significant player in the Canadian car business.

Both Hyundai and Kia have lost a tiny bit of Canadian market share from 2012 into 2013. Hyundai is down .2 percent and Kia .4 percent. Sales for the entire car industry has grown four percent from 2012 into 2013. However Suh Sung-moon an analyst at Korea Investments and Securities is quoted in the Financial Times observed “Hyundai is keen to prevent the quality issues from expanding further because the impact on sales will be much larger, if similar problems are found in its new models”

So a significant player in Canadian car sales needs to show that when they have a problem of spontaneous fires they have policies and procedures that transparently demonstrate to the car buying public that they are working to fix these problems. In short they cannot keep these cases quiet and how they respond is a test of just how “keen” they really are to make things right.

Hyundai-Kia has just settled a class action suit over false claims for their gas milage. The total North American settlement is $400 million of which the Canadian share of this settlement is $46.65 million Cdn. This problem pales against teen one of these spontaneous fires.

To shore up their reputation because of recalls and quality issues Hyundai Motors has lost three executives in its research and development division including its head manager Kwon Moon-sik after their embarrassing fuel efficiency debacle. Whose head will roll over this kind of shabby engineering, sourcing and manufacture associated with spontaneous fires?

So many companies try the silence routines or the nice word public relations but without any tangible substance probably fearing litigation. Public relations is not silence it is publicly owning up to your problems and fixing them in public. If you choose to offer products to the public then you must do what is right when you have problems such as these spontaneous fires.

The truth is you will get litigation no matter what you do so it can only be bearer to own up to faults and deal with them publicly. The litigation and class action suits side of these problems can be lessoned by good public and media relations. A settlement with silence by both parties means that if the car company that makes the settlement  is obviously at fault.

There is a strong argument for a newer type of public relations and media relations by companies. That style is not silence but admission that there was and remains a problem which Hyundai intends to solve, fix and make good not only for this car but for all the cars they sell now and in the future. That is their test in the case of these spontaneous fires.

The fire gutted interior of the 2013 Hyundai Sonata with the intact engine.

Surely the intact car computer can shed light on this problem?

© Copyright 2014, Tom Thorne, All rights waved.  Please credit www.tomthorneejournal.blogspot.com