Consumer protection getting out of hand
GM’s recall of cars for people slamming their fingers in the doors is absurd.
COMMENTARY
Emilee Baker

According to an article on CNN.com, the General Motors Corp. is recalling almost 600,000 sport utility vehicles made between 2000 and 2002 because “14 people, including 10 children, have pinched their fingers by inadvertently inserting them through a slot in the upholstery when the headrest was being folded down” as the second-row seats were being moved.

Now, to anyone as flabbergasted as I, this is simply hilarious. My first mental picture was that of a child getting his or her finger pinched. Funny, in a not-so-funny way. Then I laughed out loud thinking about an adult stomping around cursing because his or her finger was pinched. But wait ... that’s not funny at all. We know that pain.

There is no greater annoyance than to slam a finger in a car door. I should know; I’ve managed to do it once every year or so. It hurts. And, of course, the immediate reaction, other than stomping and cursing, is to hit something. Namely, the car door, which we all know is not a smart thing to do.

So here’s my proposal: GM, if everyone reported slamming his or her fingers in car doors, could you please create a mechanism that prevents that from happening? The world would be much better off.

I understand that GM is simply making a move to appease the general public, or in this case, 14 people, by preventing injuries. But having pinched fingers? Come on.

This brings me to another example: the infamous too-hot coffee from McDonald’s. Someone was actually able to legally win a case against McDonald’s for spilling coffee in her lap, which caused burns. In my opinion, these are the kind of people that one just wants to hit a couple of times and relieve some aggression.

It is absurd that we are now able to win millions of dollars, or for GM, recall hundreds of thousands of cars because of our clumsiness or curiosity. We have created for ourselves a world in which even the most inane, inanimate objects become such a threat that the manufacturers have to put warning labels or safety devices on them so the companies themselves will not be held responsible, that is, for our own mistakes.

So, what is GM’s solution for the ever-painful curiosity of a child to stick their hands in strange places? Plastic shields over the head restraints. My only question in regard to this is — what will happen when the kids get their fingers stuck underneath the plastic?

Here is an idea: If I stub my toe enough times on my couch and call the manufacturers to complain, will they take back my couch and put something all over the bottom? So I, in my clumsiness, will never have another purple toe? Probably. If GM can do it, I do not understand why we cannot create this revolution in various possibly injurious situations.

So everyone, grab hold of a seemingly ridiculous object that may injure you if you mess with it enough and have fun. Maybe we can cause so much chaos that each individual will have to live in a plastic bubble. Then again, I can always trip on plastic, too.

Emilee Baker is a senior anthropology and sociology major from Sheridan, Ark.