Quote:
Originally Posted by hsvendsen
I have owned three (3) e167s in my time. They were all converted to software version 12.0 and all retained the self balance feature.
I have never seen a comprehensive explanation for why this feature was discontinued. I can assume, however, that the 'sloppy' control shaft on the gen 2 machines would make self balancing impossible?
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Hans, I was told many years ago, by the engineer in charge that a balance parking e-2 would not be that hard to make. Remember, the balancing parking function did not include steering.
I believe their decision factors were the liability issues primarily, and also the additional training and actual gliding differences.
In the early years, a very high percentage of lawsuits and complaints came from the e series, way out of proportion to the small percentage of those who had that feature.
This, at least, it what I was told.
So, it seems that to 'e' or not is not an engineering issue, but a management choice. This is the reason that during the recall of 2006, they converted most of the remaining e-167s that came in to i-167s. Clearly all those conversions would have nothing to do with the new lean steer.