heres some posting from a friend thats the atv suspension designer for honda(but they dont call it that) in Ohio. Its kind of long but ads a little insight from his POV.
Posted: Fri Feb 13, 2009 2:30 am Post subject:
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Sunblock, this is not a bill, it is a law that took effect today.
Honda has instructed its dealers to take the dirt bikes and ATVs targeted for kids out of the show room. They have halted shipment of parts that might contain lead (rims because the tire valves have lead in the brass, hubs because they are forged from free-machining steel that has lead in it etc).
There are several ways to look at this. A democratic congress likes to talk up helping the working man while pocketing $ paid in by union members. Then they pass a bill that pushes jobs off shore. The big OEMs like Honda that employ many US citizens (~12,000 in Ohio) can not afford to risk a law suit. The Chinese makers have no office in the US, they dupe some importer to buy a container load of ATVs and sell them on line. If he gets caught there are no repercussions to the parent company other than needing to find another importer. The importer that got caught pays the fines. So now kids bikes will be make in China.
Another, slightly more cynical way to look at this. Congress passes a bill that has the potential to protect kids. The administration sees some flaws in the law but before they move to set up appropriate exemptions they are chucked out of office. The new administration sees that if they drag there feet on the whole exemption thing they can stop the sale of ATVs to kids and save the environment, thus killing three birds with one stone (not that they would advocate killing anything other than my job). And they know that to change the vehicles will take a multi million dollar investment and two years during a major economic down turn. This is the ‘change’ I was afraid we would get.
Posted: Fri Feb 13, 2009 1:36 pm Post subject:
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The law is called the “Consumer Product Safety Commission Act of 2008”. It was sponsored by representative Bobby Rush of Illinois and co-sponsored by 106 others. The full list of coconspirators is in the link below.
http://www.thomas.gov/cgi-bin/.....04040:@@@P
The text of the law can be found at:
http://www.cpsc.gov/cpsia.Pdf
Section 101 and following deals with the lead content of products intended for children. It’s a bunch of technical mumbo-jumbo. Basically there are strict limits on the amount of lead allowed on toys that a child could reasonably have access to (the internal things like soldered connections should be reasonably exempt). The manufacturer or distributor is responsible to certify the lead content and there is a requirement for out side lab testing of the lead content. The basic concept is not bad, the implementation is horrible.
Section 232 makes the voluntary ANSI ATV standards mandatory for all ATV’s including the Chinese imports. This levels the playing field for all the makers and it establishes a new category for 14 year olds that is more reasonable. The old rules had anyone under 16 limited to 90cc, now a 14 year old can ride a 250 with some limitations on max speed and parental controls (adjustable speed limiter). My 12 year old daughter rides a 250, but at least in a couple of years she will be legal under Ohio’s state forest rules.
Hoser, the comment about the union dues was more about politicians taking the money from American workers then shoving jobs off shore. Yes I know that big companies donate big bucks too, personally I would like to see both banned.
Posted: Sat Feb 14, 2009 4:40 am Post subject:
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Leaded parts :
Hubs. We have been working for several years to change out the leaded free machining steel to non leaded. When a part is redesigned it has been replaced with the newer materials. You can not just change the material as the formability is not as good (these parts are forgings, gives superior strength for the weight). The goal has been to finish this process by 2011. The TRX 90 has the same hubs from the ‘80s. To change them would require new tooling (and a significant cost increase). The development time is easily more than 1.5 years.
Valve stems: The brass in the valve stem has lead in it. The lead makes the brass easier to machine. I have not heard what is required to use a different type of brass.
Battery:
They have lead. The ‘rules’ require that any lead be non accessible to a child. This implies that a tool would be needed to uncover the battery. Currently they are under the seat and easily accessible. The question becomes ‘how inaccessible’ is needed. Most kids can figure out how to use a screwdriver. Is a torx head sufficient? Many people have those in there toolbox nowadays. At the far extreme, how would you like to return your ATV to the dealer so he can split the engine case to replace the battery? And again this would require a full development cycle to change, 1.5 years (this 1.5 years assumes we start today, witch of the projects we are working on do we stop to do this?).
Engine cases:
Again, lead is added to the case to improve the machability. Aluminum is soft and easy to machine but it is easy to have some imperfections from a dull tool. The lead allows a larger variation and improves the productivity.
There are a host of other parts. We could remove the lead but it costs money and time to do so. There is a plan in place to remove the lead and we have been working to that goal. On the flip side, even if you suck on the hub the lead that you are exposed to is very small, it is bonded to the steel. If you bite off a chunk of the hub the lead will pass threw your system with the steel (there is some exposure). The problems that are actually harming kids are things like paint where the lead is ground up to a powder and added to the paint. The paint is chewed off and ingested by the child.
In many ways I see this like the CO2 emissions for cars. We can improve the gas mileage of cars but not as quickly as Kalifornia wants us too. The only method to achieve there time table is for all car owners to hold there breath till dead.
