Considering that both crashes occurred because of MCAS acting as intended on the basis of invalid data from a failed AoA sensor with no backup, I feel like that would be a surprising lie for Boeing to have told.
edit: And, having checked the Wikipedia page for the system, I find myself surprised that that is in fact a lie Boeing has told.
They may as well go ahead and try to rebrand the damned thing, I guess. On top of everything else they've done, I can't see how it would make their problems any worse...
also edit: Via Wikipedia, 14 CFR 25.203: "No abnormal nose-up pitching may occur. The longitudinal [pitch] control force must be positive up to and throughout the stall." This is the characteristic the MAX lacks due to the engine placement. If you want to add an active system to correct for that, the AoA sensor is what you use to drive it, since that's what tells you the difference between the direction of airflow and the angle of the wing. That's how you know you're approaching a stall, and need to add a negative pitching moment. But if that sensor jams, which being a mechanical device it can do, and you don't have input from another sensor so you can see the disagreement, you risk spurious activation of the system when it isn't needed, potentially forcing the aircraft out of level flight.
I get that it's in Boeing's interest to claim MCAS isn't an anti-stall system. Why would they say anything else? To do so would implicitly admit not only that they built an aircraft that would fail dangerously in a common situation, but also that the FAA let them get away with selling it and selling it as type-identical with prior versions lacking the fail-dangerous characteristic. Neither admission would serve their interests.
But, equally, why should we take them at their word on this, or indeed anything? It's pretty clear that their corporate interests have ceased to align with ours as potential airline passengers. It's generous unto foolishness, in light of that, to give them the benefit of any doubt whatsoever.
They were pretty desperate to maintain the 737 type certification, to reduce airline adoption cost. So the question is: are they right, or are they stretching the truth via motivated reasoning?
This is a remarkably generous framing of the question. Why exclude the possibility that they were simply lying? Oh, I'm sure the engineers didn't like it, and said so. I believe the news has reported to that effect, based on internal emails. But when did people with golden parachutes start deserving the benefit of the doubt, in this industry or any other?
