Over the course of history, man has made plenty mistakes when inventing devices to better mankind. Some mistakes were miniscule mishaps that resulted in huge disasters. In this list, I have compiled some of the biggest mistakes/disasters engineers have made in modern history, in no particular order. I chose not to list mistakes that are probably well known, such as the Tacoma Narrow Bridge or the Hyatt Regency Walkway.
Front loader washing machine by Maytag and Samsung
When one of my relatives purchased a front loader, we were excited with the new home edition technology (front loaders have been in Laundromats). At first, all was fine until the clothes began to smell of mildew. Then, the clothes began to mold. Afterwards, the washer repairman became a fixture at my relative’s home. Finally, my relative had to rid themselves of the washer and resort back to a top loader machine. If you purchased a front loader washing machine, then you are familiar with these problems. These washers had numerous problems such as mold, electrical shortages, mildew, and constant puncturing of the rubber gasket around the inside of door molding, to name a few. Consequently, Maytag and Samsung were sued in a class action suit and had to reimburse customers who purchased the washers.
Chernobyl Nuclear Power Plant Disaster
April 26, 1986, was the day of the worst nuclear reactor accident in the world. Reactor Four exploded at 1:30 a.m. Numerous problems caused this disaster: a poor building design; and, hapless scientists who would do unscrupulous experiments on site, which later followed a power surge coupled with serious mistakes made by the plant operators. The total disregard for safety regulations was directly attributed to the fallout of the Cold War and lack of a safety culture. This explosion sent massive amounts of radiation into environment immediately contaminating an area of 30 km (20 mi) in diameter. The radiation spread as far as Italy and its surrounding states. The explosion was so devastating that 25 years later, over 500, 000, deaths are linked to this disaster. Because of the Chernobyl disaster, over-compensated stringent guidelines, safety designs and concepts, and emergency planning have been implemented in nuclear power plants worldwide.
This is where branding went wrong. Talk about an ugly car…the Edsal was it. The hype and marketing ploy used to vamp Ford sales did not succeed. The Edsal failed miserably in sales and the last one produced was in 1960, with no fanfare. The Edsal was overpriced, bulky, and must I say again…ugly! Did Ford or any of the car manufacturers learn from the errors of Ford’s ways? Yes, and some very valuable lessons at that. Today, collectors are spending upwards of $200k for the Edsal.
Ford Pinto and Mercury Bobcat (1972-78)
The Ford Pinto was a disaster waiting to happen. This automobile was made to curb the public’s insatiable need for a compact car, due to the popularity of the VW Beetle. The fuel tank of the Pinto was designed in the rear of car, would rupture in crashes over 25 mph and the rear end would smash like an accordion. Ford’s leading executives cared very little for public safety. After analyzing the costs of serious and fatal injuries versus the costs of recalls for certain parts, Ford execs decided to continue to sell the Pinto. The bottom line was the almighty dollar. Sale, sale, sale! Inasmuch, the Mercury Bobcat was a competing version of the Pinto, which failed as well.
Safety inspectors forget to replace a valve at the Piper Bravo Oil Rig
The Piper Alpha oilrig exploded and burned in the North Sea on July 6, 1988, killing 167 men. This accident highlighted many lapses in safety inspection, procedures, and attitudes prevalent at the time. It remains the world’s worst offshore oil disaster, both in terms of deaths and cost. The insured loss reached $3.4 billion. The event that triggered the initial explosion was caused by a misunderstanding of the readiness of a gas condensate pump that had been removed from service for maintenance of its pressure safety valve (PSV).
The Challenger space shuttle exploding on liftoff
I remember sitting in eighth grade English class watching the Challenger lift off. Those were the golden, olden days when school made you watch the astronauts go into space. My teacher was particularly excited because there was a teacher, Christie McAuliffe, on board. We watched lift off and then, boom. We all sat back in confusion. None of us actually knew what happened. Our teacher turned the television off and we were still in a state of confusion. About ten minutes later, it had dawned on us what actually occurred. Nothing like this happened before. To date, I believe that this is why network television no longer broadcasts space shuttles departure.
The Therac-25 Medical Accelerator Accidents
This device was put into medical facilities in the US and Canada in 1983, to administer radiation treatment for cancer-patients. When technicians were providing therapy, over-dosages in treatments were occurring on various patients, in which they were given too much radiation. Incidentally, imminent death resulted from the over dosage treatments of the accelerator. The Therac-25 was taken off the market in 1987, after an intensive investigation. It was discovered, that the software installed within the device had a bug.
An Airliner Crashes Due to Square Windows
Have you ever noticed the windows around your home? If your window are rectangular in design, pay close attention to see if there are any cracks around the corners. In the 1950’s airplanes were made with square windows. Unbeknownst to engineers and designers, square windows caused cracks around the 90º corners (the kit kat bar effect). These cracks would lead to fuselage, resulting in two airplane accidents: one was without incident; the other was fatal to all passengers and crew. It took years to figure what was causing these airplane accidents. Finally, after intense simulations in labs, engineers were finally enlightened on the errors in their design. This is why airplane has rounded corners on its windows.
Do you know some engineering mistakes that have turned into disasters? I want to hear your opinion.
Jon Point says
Reiterated from LinkedIn:
If we’re talking engineering screw-ups, as opposed to operational ones, how about designing an entire national grid system that isn’t immune to solar flare-induced currents (Canada & USA)?
Or siting nuclear power plants inside a tsunami zone (Japan), with backup generators in the basement?
Or siting a major generation plant next to a military ammunition dump (Cyprus)?
These are all straight from the front page though. I’d bet that there are plenty more that never made it to the media =]
Natasha Townsend says
Thank you for responding. There are not alot of accidents that make it to the media.
Alex Pummer says
Maytag Involved In Another Recall: This Time Washing Machines, perhaps by Maytag and Samsung, we used to have a Miele front-loader for 25 years and bought five years ego a Miele front loader again, it very depends who is making that front-loader
fredmatic1 says
For goodness sake, if you are going to write an article about a product, or for that matter, ANYTHING, spell it’s name correctly!! It is the Ford “EDSEL”….. not Edsal. It seems that in today’s world of spellcheck, if a computer cannot correct it for you, it will not be corrected. Spelling and poor grammar or sentence structure in today’s news articles are atrocious. Again, the ‘dumbing down of America’ via the public school system….oh, that’s right, we no longer teach cursive either……