Comments on: Automakers Need A Crash Course In Quality

Design Expert Says Detroit Must Address Product Reliability, Fail Rates To Compete Successfully

[hologram5]

Well, you have to look at the warranty as well, some of these foreign makes have a 10 year 100,000 mile warranty. Can the big three compete with that? No. Also from a mechanics point of view, I have worked on many cars and I am not impressed with the big three''s quality on the interior of the cars, they are mostly plastic.

[mgoblue99992]

Exactly, Hotwitch - the point is that MORE people have had bad experiences with Ford,GM,Chrysler than with Toyota,Honda - and so OVERALL...market share has moved from domestic to import.

The reason that the domestics cannot survive this financial crisis is that they lost too many customers over the years. It''s possible to get them back - but the companies need to commit to proper methods to achieve highest quality and reliability - and I''m not talking about watered down Six Sigma programs or other flavor of the month approaches.

[Gary Kempf]

I bought a 2002 Pontiac Bonneville, ten months after having it, a electrical short developed. This short would cause the car to die, The pontiac dealer fixed it 5 times under warranty. At 9,900 miles it came back again five days prior to the end of the warranty.

I went to another dealership and traded it for a Honda.

[hotwitch]

It''s not about data, or JD Powers for that matter, few check that stuff out. It''s about your first experience with a brand, and your brand loyalty. I''ve had Ford, GM, Toyota (2), Subaru, Mitsubishi, all brand new. All good, but the best quality was Toyota, and the worst quality was Toyota, explain that?

[sbrohman-2009]

What a great piece. And that''s why I drive a Honda!

[truthspeake2]

They need so much more than a crash course...

[gunshack1]

goblue, you are correct of course. I just worry who will buy the cars, tvs, etc. when the last manufacturing job has gone overseas. I do feel the quality has improved in the last 30 years. We had a 1974 Olds and it was a piece of cra*.

[mgoblue99992]

Of course individuals will write in with a story of how their Ford, GM, or Chrysler product was wonderful for many many miles and they had no problems...but they are missing the point!

While individual experiences will vary...the question is what does the OVERALL DATA say...and unfortunately there can be no debate about the HARD FACTS with regard to warranty expense and recalls. This information is available from many sources and the numbers do not lie.

Individual experiences will always vary, but this is about the DATA.

[gunshack1]

I drove my 1996 Chevy 1500 4X4 200,000 miles. Changed the oil and break pads. No problems. My 2006 has 50,000 miles. No problems. The big three produce what we ask for. They don''t make little bitty cars because we won''t buy the dam* things.

[gunshack1]

I don''t think Harry called them Japanese. I''m sure he called them J*A*P*S.

[tallyman2008]

Bigger tail fins and new colors

That will fix the problem

[gunshack1]

"Screw the ***". Who said that? "Harry Truman August 1945"

[drputt45]

AW - Total BS. I drive a suburban with almost 200,000 and still get over 20mpg while carrying 4 kids, the wife and luggage.

My Dodge truck gets better mpg than my neighbors Nissan and it''s a heck a lot better looking than that Honda sorta pickup.

We have complained for so long, we quite giving the USA a chance. I agree labor costs are too high and the execs should not be flaunting their wealth and spending the way they should. Lower the labor and execs perks and we''re back in business.

[mgoblue99992]

Great article....I worked for Ford for 10 years and was given a new car to drive every year (as all managers do). It wasn''t until I left the company and drove their cars beyond 35,000 miles that I understood what their customers experience.

It''s too bad they focus on Initial Quality (a few months in service) - when brand loyalty is much more determined by what''s happening 3-5 years after purchase. My experience with Toyota and Honda has far exceeded that with Ford. I''m sure almost all Americans would prefer to drive one of the "Detroit 3" - if we could only trust them....

[hitoyou1]

The CEO of GM shouold be in JAIL.

[hitoyou1]

They need to spot thinkung there Quality is good. They need to stop changing there Quality plan every time there is a new buss word. All there Quality is JUNK. The automakers are JUNK

[grigjd3]

I drive a seven year old Toyota and to date, the only money I''ve had to really spend on it was for oil changes and replacing the break-pads once. There is, however, something being left out of this analysis. The more parts a car has, the more that can fail. I absolutely agree with all four points being recommended here, but simplifying the design of the car vastly reduces the chance that the car will fail. Typically, Japanese and indeed cars from many countries are made with fewer parts than American cars. Often this is a case where the smaller cheaper cars have fewer parts. The absolute worst part of American auto-makers though is the inability to look to the future. In the 90''s, big gas-guzzling SUVs sold amazingly well and it was no surprise when gas cost a dollar a gallon. Of course, they refused to believe that as gas cost more, demand for the big trucks would go down. Even today, with sales plummeting, their advertising campaigns focus on big trucks with poor fuel economy while the CEO of GM said the Prius was a gimmick to appease liberals. That mentality is killing GM, Ford and Chrysler and nothing can save them from that.

[dsandhaus]

I totally agree with the author of this article. I purchased a Buick LeSabre. All four power windows failed at a cost to repair of $500 each after the warranty period. I vowed never to purchase a GM product again and recently bought a Toyota Hybrid, my first foreign car purchase in 30 years. I love my new car.