pride101's Blog

It troubles me to hear the rhetoric our car companies "push" out to the public.   We always hear about how the Japanese are using the fact their government provides health care to workers to prove they have an advantage concerning costs. Out companies say they cannot be competitive due the what American workers require concerning benefits.  The fact is that it is true Toyota and Honda do not have to worry about the cost of health care contributing to the profit per vehicle.  Is that the reason for the market share change that those companies have aquired over our companies?  This is not the case.  Americans have taken an exodus from Ford, and GM due to poor decisions by those who head the company.  Honda and Toyota, to break into the US market, priced their product lower, allowing a lower profit to themselves.  They stuck with the small engine concept, and listened to what consumers wanted, and make changes accordingly while also working on reliability yearly.  Due to their consistant concentration on technology, the engines became more powerful, and effecient over the years.   Americans continued to stick to Ford and GM for patriotic reasons, but as quality and reliability suffered, people consistantly moved to Japanese products.  This was very heart wrenching for many, because they wanted to support American cars, but could not afford the repair costs.  It seemed that American cars would have major issue after the initial warranties expired, requiring enging or transmission repairs, which are major expenses for the average family.  I myself searched for a used mini van for traveling with the family for the summer.  Upon researching the vehicles available, I found that Ford and GM consistantly had Transmission and Engine issue.  When looking at reviews by actual consumers who owned the vehicles, I found head gasket issues that cropped up around 60 - 80 thousand miles, and transmission issues on both Ford and GM products.  I wanted an Olds Silhouette, but this had head gasket issues, related to a poor design of the engine that was used in a variety of GM Mini Vans - Chevy Venture etc. I looked at the Chrysler /Dodge Mini Vans and found fire hazards, brake issues , engine problems.  Ford Windstar, transimission problems.  I bought a 1988 Chrylser Lebaron coupe new, which was a beautiful car, but had many issues with the K - Frame, which the company would not repair.  They used many excuses why.  After trading it in I found 80% of the people that I meet that owned one said they had the same issues with the car and found the same results when complaining to Chrysler.  I traded the Lebaron in for a 1999 Chevy Nova, because I wanted to stick with an American product. I choose the Nova because it is a rebody of the Toyota Corrola. It was one of the most reliable cars I ever owned.  I traded it in for a 1996 Dodge Intrepid, again another beautifully designed vehicle.  I said I would never buy another Chrysler product due to the Lebaron problem, but was open to give it a try.  I had numerous issues with the suspension. Something I have heard from many people that own this same car.   I finally traded this in for a Honda.  I started shopping for a Mini Van for summer group trips, and ran into the issues.  I finally found a Mercury Villager, but again it had a Nissan engine and did not have any issues.  I have known people who had the same vehicle with a Ford engine, and had issues with it.  I have over 100,000 miles on it and it runs like new.  All the people that I know that own Chevy, Chrysler, Ford, mini vans have had issues with them beyond regular maintenance.  They have to buy a warranty which adds to the cost of the vehicle, and if they do not they run into major issues.  I think the designs and many of the features of the American cars are great , but they do not have very good mechanicals.   The Japanese continue to stress mechanical reliability, and because of this are well ahead of us in their engine designs.  They get great power from small engines,  while we continue to deal with mechanical problems in our products.   Now they are working on Hybrid technology, and are years ahead of us, due to the investment they made in it.  They sell Hybrids like the Prius for very low if any profit, and refine the technology constantly.  Simular to what they did when introducing 4 cylinder cars in our market which were used to 6 and 8 cylinder. The Japanese achieve their MPG figures by way of true actual MPG car ratings, while we achieve it using gimics.  We have "Flex Fuel" vehicles that are supposed to run on normal gasoline, and ethenol.  The issue they don't tell you is that using the other fuels the engine is not as efficient.  It will average 3 - 5 fewer MPG when using alternate fuels, but the US companies get credit which lower their total MPG ratings artificially.  Using this "fuzzy" engineering we continue to fall behind.  Then they blame cost for the Japanese dominance, when in fact most  Americans  discount, and rebate their vehicles while the Japanese products usually get retail for theirs due to demand for them in our country.  People also choose to buy them because they are familiar with the reliability,  by personal experience of testimonies by family and friends.  They also find that the Japanese stand by their products, and don't make excuses for defects, like many American companies.  Recently the head of GM, Bob Lutz, made a statement about the Prius, saying it does not make any economic sense.  Exactly the same thing they said in the 70's and 80's about the imports, while the Japanese made small profits, and refined the vehicles which caught on with the public, and we are now in the situation we are in now.  His attitude is what causes the decline of market share for our American companies.   He featured small efficient vehicles at the Detroit Auto Show, that were only for the "World Market" and not available in the US.  When critizied on why he would not make them available for US buyers, he made arrogant statements about people not paying attention, and berated people for not understanding that the reason he had them at the show was to prove GM was not only an Norh American auto company but a global company.  I can't understand why teasing us with small efficienct cars that we could never buy at an American auto show makes any sense.  Until our company leaders start respecting the public we will continue to decine.  We have great engineers, and designers, but the push for profit against reliability is a major issue.  I am now looking at of all things the new Dodge Caravan.  Another great design, I just hope the reliability will match.  I never have given up on my American products, but like many people in the US cannot afford to strand my family driving an unreliable vehicle.   My neighbor just traded his Durango for a Pathfinder due to unreliability, instead of trading it in for another Durango. He would have saved money by buying the Durnago, but had his family stranded multiple times, and was given poor service by the dealer and Chrysler after complaining to them.  Let me know what you think about this issue.