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Originally Posted by sweetk30
i have never seen one like this so i figured for last year they used what they had .
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The assembly plant doesn't just "use what they had".
The whole "assembly line running out of parts so the line workers just did a substitution" concept is a bit overplayed. I've only seen it happen a couple times in almost 40 years and in those few instances it there was enough lead time to make a decision or design a recovery plan. It was never spontaneous and it was never done by the plant alone. There was upper management and engineering involvement to wring out all the legal and regulatory implications and to make sure all affected parties were in agreement before proceeding.
Part substitutions are not made spontaneously largely because of the downstream assembly implications (especially if there are multiple areas or electrical involved). Making even a minor change can disrupt the subsequent operations due to different attachments, clips, routings, connections, etc. So - you wouldn't want to install a smaller fuel tank only to find out later that the sending unit doesn't work, or register the fuel gage correctly, or that the system has not been validated for commerce. There is a strong aversion to shutting the line down, not only as a result of this but for any reason at all.
Most assembly plants (not all, but most) have an accumulator between body shop and paint, and another between paint and trim. This allows the banking of bodies to keep the final line running in the event of a breakdown or work stoppage upstream. It also allows the shuffling of builds for final line work balance (ie, can't have to many stick shifts in a row, can't have too many A/C jobs in a row, can't have too many sunroofs or cab running lights in a row) but also allows the plant to remove builds from the mix if there is a particular part shortage.
Lastly - That's a Federal Trade Commission violation and is federally regulated if there is a difference in price between the two options. In other words, if a customer pays for something they have to get it. For example, if the customer were to order a trailer hitch (and pay for it) and not receive one, or paid for larger fuel tanks but got smaller ones, then GM would be open to legal action, including fines, penalties and a potential recall or field action forced by the FTC.
K