Is Toyota the new GM? They sure are acting like it.

All major Japanese have plants in the U.S. with 80, 90% parts coming from North America. They are “AMERICAN” cars. Soon more motors will be built here rather than in Japan. Other Euro, Korean manufactures already or will have plants here. Name and badge don’t mean much. What distinguish each auto maker is its origin, tradition and culture.

Nissan has a really good product line and isn’t currently killing people with money-saving engineering defects. They just seem to quietly sell average to good (sometimes great) vehicles without being preoccupied with a diversionary battle for sales dominance.

It seems to me that if the guys that count the money get more power than the guys that design and engineer the cars, the product will suffer and the vicious implosion cycle begins.

That said, I agree with you that recently Toyota has been disappointing. And realistically there isn’t 1 Toyota I would buy right now (I do like the FJ, but I still wouldn’t buy it). I’ve gone on record many times to say I like NIssans. The pre-Ghosn Nissan cars were different from the current versions…..yet in either case its a better car than just about most everything else in the price/category (exception: anything bigger than the Pathfinder)

In any event, in complete contrast to what you claim above, this most recent fiasco of Toyota’s is of paramount importance on the topic of reliability. Older recalls are less important because they have been resolved. Toyota’s has not. Older recalls represent past mistakes. Toyota’s does not.

I cannot believe you are seriously convinced that the reliability of mid-nineties cars have a place in discussions about modern-day vehicle reliability. That is fifteen years ago. One and a half decades. Are you saying companies haven’t changed within their own classes? Some up, some down. Could your argument work for Hyundai? Lexus? Buick? I was a real Toyota fan in the early to mid 90s. I owned two of their 4x4s. Absolutley loved them. Did things with those trucks I never thought possible. When the Tacomas were introduced, I saw the difference in quality, immediately. I haven’t owned a Toyota since. I have said repeatedly on here that I will not defend decade’s-old actions by domestics and not judge imports based on what they did 1.5 decades ago either. What is happening currently is very relevant to this discussion on reliability.

I need you to clarify your piont again about why this mess, that has killed several people, is not relevant .

While Toyota is in the spot light Ford should be ready to answer to NHTSA data. According to the link Ford has 28% of all cases reported. Better hold off on the purchase of a Toyota or a Ford. The odds of having the issue with a Toyota are 1/50000 and for a Ford they are 1/65000.

See the link:
http://blogs.consumerreports.org/cars/2009/12/sudden-unintended-acceleration-sua-analysis-2008-toyota-lexus-ford-gm.html

From the article we get:
“Ford complaints are also high, GM especially low
With 36 complaints, Ford was the only other manufacturer with a disproportionately high number of reported cases.”

More from the articel:
“The bottom line
Because it is dependent upon motorist submissions, the NHTSA complaint database does not reflect all sudden, unintended acceleration cases. But the data does show statistically more complaints for certain Toyota, Lexus, and Ford brand models.

Another way of looking at the extent of complaints is to compare them to model-year sales. Based on our analysis, the ratio of reports for experiencing such a problem on 2008 model-year vehicle from Toyota Motor Corporation is about one in nearly 50,000. The Ford Motor Company’s reported risk is about one in nearly 65,000. In contrast, the reported risk for a GM model is just one in 500,000. ”

Time to get some detail to the public, we have heard from Toyota, how about you Ford? Are we going to get it from China first? Sounds like the CTS product in the Chinese product that has your name on it is being recalled….. is this how we will learn of the problem in our country?

We as American can buy whatever the F$%k we want, that’s why we love being Americans!!!

i would drive any honda, with the door already on fire from a window motor burnout, than a nano any day…

and why my girl drives a Tata Nano!

hahahaha!

Here’s another pondering, American. How come Americans can’t get along to do what they need to do (looking at the partisanship in Congress)? Healthcare, Afghanistan (after a while), any new bills that pop up, no matter how good they are for the country, will be shot down by partisanship.

One quote, American: “So it’s not surprising then that they get bitter, they cling to guns or religion or antipathy to people who aren’t like them or anti-immigrant sentiment or anti-trade sentiment as a way to explain their frustrations.”

Hillarious when, for Toyota, you say, “(disregard recent Toyota recall).” Huh? Nice selective reasoning. How can you do that when comparing reliability? Shouldn’t the largest recall in history be taken into account? This just further solidifies in my head the fact that some people are still associating auto brand reliabitliy with decades-old reasoning. Dude, you really need to update your automotive knowledge. At least bring it in line with the late 90s or early 00s so you don’t come across as not knowing what you’re talking about.

Dr Fill is now Dr Fled. So it is said, so it shall be done.

As far as reliability….this is the trend I see so far:

GM and Ford = hit or miss. you can get lucky and get a copy that will run forever without major troubles or get something just short of being a lemon. Draw your straws carefully.

Toyota/Honda/Nissan/Hyundai = (disregard recent Toyota recall) Generally rock solid for about 100k mi. You may get lucky and be able to run more than that without issues, but on average it isn’t recommended.

MB/BMW/Audi = If taken care of, will go 100-150k mi w/o any issues, but when repairs are needed, they are quite expensive. BMW tends to be the worst of the 3.

Mitsu and ChryCo = 9/10 times guaranteed to be terrible.

Suzuki and Subaru = reliable and fun and with a fairly good shot at living a long life.

But I’m gonna be honest, if they don’t change, they can go to hell lol.

Even more amazing is how people play the recall in this story down for Honda and even some have done the same for Toyota. If these recalls were from Ford or GM – especially those involving DEATHS – there would be narry an excuse to be heard. Just lots of claims of confirming the inferioity of domestic product. Some people are blind and don’t even know it; the funniest part is they are ususally the ones claiming to be fair-minded.

According to Japanese proverb,
“keep liying 100 times, no matter what, it become a true”

they think “cover-up”,”deny”,”hide” is a good strategy, it is not bad things.

Are you forgetting the countless number of Ford vehicles that would spontaneously catch fire due to a faulty cruise control switch? Or the infamous Pinto that would catch fire if an impact to the rear bumper was severe enough and fractured the gas tank?

Ford’s are no stranger to spontaneously catching fire.

Very smart Honda. Very smart!

And this is just what the Japanese makes need right now… a little more blood in the shark tank.

@85ZingoGTR

I understand that you needed to diss American products to counter AMERICAN_#!’s foolishness, but please don’t stoop to his level. The only bad American brand is Chrysler.