Tiago1973 wrote:Dimitri, Thanks for disclosing some industry data.
Don´t know about iphones or TVs, but let me give you a little inside on the automotive industry.
The typical tier1 target for warranty at the OEM customer is around 5... parts per million.
Any player that would measure it in percentage will be out of the market in no time.
Note that this is for components that do not bring any risk that somebody get´s hurt.
A malfunction QR, a line that breaks and some others carry a much higher consequence.
Life is not perfect and there are things you can´t control.
But there are things you can and from those 2% to 3% I suspect they are not.
So you see.. what is a perfectly reasonable number for you, for others it´s something out of this world.
In the end, I guess we all have different sensibilities.
With the huge number of component piece parts that make up an automobile today, you must achieve those rates of non failure,
or not one car would come off the line and start.
I believe this has very little to do with kiteboarding.
Kiteboarding is a tiny fringe sport/hobby.
The companies that make kite gear are all tiny in comparison to anything in the automotive world.
Kiting gear is relatively hand made, in small shops/sewing lofts, made in small batches, with relatively primitive QC systems and controls.
Many of the rigging components are standard bought parts, borrowed from other uses.
People that participate in any dangerous sport (especially in the water) must be aware that what they do is inherently risky.
It would be great if they were the type of person who has a clue how to make themselves safe and prepare themselves properly.
The dangers of kiteboarding have no real comparison with the safety systems required in a modern automobile, the dangers of a failure in an automobile are much larger than with a kite.
Kiteboarding is not the same as sky diving, or paragliding/hang gliding, or jumping 70 foot gaps on moto-cross bikes, or even rock climbing
..we are moving relatively slowly on the water under the power of a kite.
If kiters are riding within proper limits of their abilities, the sport is relatively safe, but water is water and drowning is always a factor.
Unfortunately, what comes with a small uptick in popularity and an uptick in sophistication/ease of use of the equipment, is a false sense of automatic safety and a wrong belief that the companies who make kite gear are responsible for the lives and safety of the people that choose to pursue this (or any) dangerous hobby.
The reality is that lines do break because they wear (like tires), the reality is that depower ropes wear, the reality is that depower straps wear, spreader bar hooks snap off, fins snap off, surfboards dent and break, twintips snap in two, footstraps break and tear off, inserts rip out, kite canopies rip at the wrong time, leading edge and strut Dacron gets worn or torn or punctured, bladders leak and nipples come off, small metal parts rust, small metal parts snap, small plastic parts wear, plastic parts crack, bearings/pulleys seize, sewing fails on waist harnesses, bars snap in two, bar ends crack, leader lines wear, etc, etc, etc.
The percentages of failure are pretty good considering what we are using, how it is put together and how we are using it.
People have been making sailboats for thousands of years and we still have parts that wear and break and fail all the time.
It is definitely necessary to keep a close eye on your gear and keep it maintained,
and check your safety systems before every single time you launch a kite or step on a board.
But if anybody thinks that a kite company must guarantee their safety on the water, they should think again.