Will American auto makers ever improve the quality? What do you think is the problem?

Question

They have not, so far. And I think this serious loss to the foreign auto makers will be more in near future.

Why the American auto makers do not improve the quality of their products? Are they going to? If not, then what are the problems that make them not being able to do so?

Oh, yes, Mike H. I have owned Ford Taurus '96 model.

It was the worst automobile I have owned in my entire life.

The car had numerous problems.

Okay, where do I start. Transmission problem (it was a very serious troblem), engine valve problem, break problem, fuel injection problem, electric sensor constantly goes on even after the repair, aircondition went off 5 month after the purchase.

What do you think about this?

Answer 1

As I understand it, the big three's assembly line must continue to move. They can't stop the line to make corrections, because any stoppage costs a lot of money. They depend on final inspection to catch and fix any problems. After that, it's up to the dealers to fix the problems. Japanese manufacturer's (and European I assume), can stop their assembly lines and make corrections on the spot therefore eliminating the fault from getting to the consumer. I don't know if the lines in American, Japanese owned plants work the same as those in Japan. Japanese workers work in teams and are encouraged to look for faults and find fixes. Any member of a team can stop the line if a fault is detected. That way fewer faults reach the consumer. But to answer your question, no! not until they change the way the assembly line runs.

Answer 2

Foreign auto makers are taking over. It's for a number of reasons. One, being that GM and Ford are spending WAY to much money on concept vehicles to provide an answer to the battle with gas prices. They are failing everytime. I work for Toyota and we are RAPIDLY climbing up the ladder.

WHOEVER said US makers have more strict mfg rules. HA... I'm sorry. I respect your opinion but if you have EVER worked for the Japanese you would know your wrong. We SURVIVE because we are ANTI UNION. The company treats us good enough we don't need a union to fight battles because there are no battles.

We have the most strict rules on standardized work, and countermeausures, we will not send a bad part. Right now Toyota is at 29 PPM. That's 29 bad parts out of a million. And the reason for the 29 is out of our control.

When you mass produce anything you will run into a problem.

The US auto makers don't have hope anymore... however... the foreign auto market is becoming more and more american. Toyota just bought Isuzu and is looking toward Nissian and Honda. More and more plants are opening in the US everyday.

And as for the guy with mustang with 320,000... if you treat ANY vehicle good enough they will last forever. My 93 Toyota 4Runner has 410,000 on it and I take it everywhere. In the mud, snow, whatever. It will run longer then i'm alive, and i'm only 22 years old.

Answer 3

Actually, GM and DaimlerChrysler have improved significantly, and with Toyotas fall puts them behind Honda in big-name reliability. Last year Toyota had the most recalls, but the media "failed" to notice since millions would stand against them because of thier reputation. These days reputation is nothing, technology advances so fast it cant keep up. For ex: three years ago GM was one of the worst companies, now they have the most top-rated vehicles, and the quality/reliability surpasses Toyota. Honda is still on top of the reliability ratings. Ford also had more recalls than GM and DaimlerChrysler combined, for reasons like exploding engines and wheels falling off. Here is a quote from the Washington Posts review of the Toyota CAmry "one of which is the Chevrolet Malibu, which in my real-world driving experience has been every bit as good and reliable as the much-ballyhooed Camry but has been maligned primarily because it is a Chevrolet". Oddly enough that was an '04 Malibu VS the totally redisigned '07 Camry. Common problems with Toyotas are plastic rattling until it falls off. People then complain that when they take it to the dealer to be fixed they just say "The cars are made with so much plastic its practically impossible to fix" GM is also the worlds fastest growing manufacturer, and that dosent happen by accident.

Answer 4

The problem comes from people like you who assume that there is a problem. I guarantee you have never owned an American made automobile. I have owned Ford, Chevy, Dodge, Toyota, Honda. And the best car I've ever owned was my Ford Mustang that has 320,000 miles on the same motor and still runs great as we speak.

Answer 5

dave check out the questions on this site how many are for forign cars? 60%? 70% ive had chevys all my life and never experienced the problems people talk about on this forum i put almost 200,000 miles on each and every one of them so i dont get it of course ive had chevys and not fords but seriously look at the questions here most of them are for foriegn cars

Answer 6

Its too late for the US auto industry. The UAW kept demanding more pay, the EPA kept demanding more expensive equipement and the cars never got better.

Answer 7

The problem is Cost .... for one . another is the United States has strick regulations for the Mfgs .... So the product suffers in the long run.

Answer 8

LOL! properly, each and every time I hear someone ***** about women drivers, I continually say that they were probable taught to rigidity by adult men! i comprehend the majority (if no longer all) of creating use of instructors are adult men.