Back at Fictitious Motors, when the top floor Elves weren't clawing together their personal benefits, they were shopping for custom suits, taking trips to various countries on the Fictitious Motors company plane, visiting Fictitious Motors car shows around the world, and building second and third vacation homes. All of the employees on the top floor wore the same kind, color, and make of suits. The impression created was that the sameness helped them hide from one another, from their Fictitious Motor's employees, and from the customer public. The Elves bland appearance enabled them to do whatever they wanted to without much scrutiny. Every day at noon, just before they left for the day, they had their minions send out press releases telling the world that all of the workers in La La Land were very happy. The top floor Elves never knew or cared about the two and a half inch safety related fuel hoses. Most of the top floor Elves weren't capable of actually recognizing a fuel hose, reading a parts blue print, recognizing a manufacturing problem, or thinking of a different color to enhance their product. Deep deep in the enchanted forest of La La Land inside of Fictitious Motors, most of the top floor Elves didn't have a clue what was going on outside of the Executive Bathroom, or the Executive Dining Room. As Fictitious Motors crumbled underneath them, they continued to play, play, and pretend into the coming months and years. They were blissfully unaware of what went on anywhere, but he top floor. Infrequently, when the top floor Elves visited the Fictitious Motor's manufacturing plants, they were led thru a very special cleaned inside of the plant trail that had recently been painted. They quickly marched in lock step, with the aid of a leader, thru this specially selected brightly painted area directly to the Fictitious Motor's General Megador's office. Once there, they were taken to lunch in the Fictitious Motor's Executive Dining Room. They all sat, with their backs against the wall, at the half circle table facing the door. They happily ate the best food, while Fictitious Motors slowly quietly disintegrated on their watch, and they were all happy.
The Elves were happy, because they never made a connection between their leadership abilities and the fate of Fictitious Motors. While the top floor Elves ate lunch with the Fictitious Motor's General Megador, the rest of the plant continued to roil in the sweltering days of launch angst. The August weather outside was wonderful. Inside of the Fictitious Motors plant, the sea of toxic air was a sweltering 120 degrees. The ceiling fans installed to remove the heated toxic air had broken down thirty years before. The fans in the roof that were never fixed, and their domed black metal covers hung precariously dangling in the air above the Fictitious workers work area. The fuel hoses continued to be installed on the cars to spec, and it wasn't until several months later that Fictitious Motor's cars began to catch fire.
With normal use, the Fictitious Motor's care began to experience fire difficulties. The fuel hoses, which were not designed to do the job they were being asked to do, began to crack. They cracked, in part, because of the pressure at 35 psi, and because of the extremes of under hood heat temperature. The Goblins and the Hobgoblins wearing pocket protectors were called upon to investigate the complaints coming in, from the Fictitious Motor's Dealerships. When the Fictitious Goblins and Hobgoblins wearing pocket protectors arrived at the dealerships to inspect the damage, all they found were cold globs of metal and plastic, that were once Fictitious Motor's cars, resting on the dealership floor. Ultimately, the Hobgoblins and the Goblins wearing pocket protectors concluded, over much investigative time, that depending upon the type of gasoline used, corrosion was obliterating and cracking the two and a half inch fuel hoses attached to the Fictitious Motor car engines. Part of the problem was that old gas develops a characteristic called sour. Old sour gas has different characteristics, which make it more corrosive to rubber. Among other things, the gas was corroding the rubber fuel hose, from the inside. Cracks occurred and the gas leaked onto the engine, where it sometimes puddled. When the Fictitious care was driven, and when a certain heat was achieved, the result was a car on fire. The driver usually could pull over to the side of the road, and jump out. The Fictitious car would continue to burn, until it became a molten pile of metal and plastic.
The fix for the Fictitious Motor's fuel hose was a redesigned aeronautical related rubber fuel hose, that was made of braided stainless steel on the outside with coupled ends. The coupled ends made it possible to screw the hose onto the metal attaching posts. The investigation and fix took many many months. Were the Fictitious Motor's customers ever informed of the danger? No one will ever know, but everyone on the top floor of Fictitious Motors lived happily ever after in the deep deep dark enchanted forest of La La Land, where everyone is surrounded by green trees and toxic air emanating from Fictitious Motor's manufacturing plants.