The ignition switch in question seems totally unremarkable. I wonder why it was redesigned in the first place? Why not use one of the many existing parts GM had at the time?
Also—somewhat of a nitpick to an otherwise good article—the Bronco II is a completely different model from the one driven by Al Cowlings during the O.J. Simpson chase. That was the full-sized Bronco. When details like that are wrong, it usually makes me suspect the accuracy of other facts in the story (although in this case, the article seems otherwise accurate).
I also wondered this since the story broke.. Why do they redesign core components like this, instead of just iterating on previous designs? I fight this every day in the enterprise space. My only conclusion is ignorance: sharing previous design or infrastructure knowledge is hard (or at least, not prioritized). So folks end up recreating the proverbial wheel.
I guess that might be due to parts' supply and logistics problems. When production counts in hundreds of thousands and millions, getting all parts together and in time is quite a challenge.
Also—somewhat of a nitpick to an otherwise good article—the Bronco II is a completely different model from the one driven by Al Cowlings during the O.J. Simpson chase. That was the full-sized Bronco. When details like that are wrong, it usually makes me suspect the accuracy of other facts in the story (although in this case, the article seems otherwise accurate).