How do the Japanese manage to make such reliable cars?

Question

It seems no other manufacturer can match the Japanese in terms of product reliability. Is there anything specific about the engineering designs, product testing procedures or manufacturing techniques that makes them so much more reliable than say German or American cars? It would be interesting to know.....

Answer 1

Japanese business strategy is renowned for resulting in high quality products (not just in the car world- also electronics etc.).

A main ideal in this strategy is Kaizen. It means "continual improvement" and is the attitude taken to everyday working practice. They look to make small changes each day which will make small improvements, but these add up to have a big overall effect. This ideal is used in every part of the business, so design, testing manufacturing etc. all improve constantly. This is contrary to the "If it ain't broke don't fix it" attitude used in other countries.

Other countries have different approaches. Germany does have a strong engineering background, but the focus is more towards efficiency than improvement of quality. That said, they do pioneer technologies that appear on cars- these often debut on the flagship cars such as Merecdes' S-Class. It must also be noted that german cars are generally reliable when compared to say, italian cars. The improvement that Volkswagen Audi group has made to Lamborghini (since taking it over) in terms of reliability is phenomenal.

American cars are often built down to a price so that they are not more expensive than domestic rivals. The attitude to cars in America is different to other countries- they see them as "white goods" rather than a luxury due to the mass production of cars very early on- the Ford Model T 1908-1927 was very widely sold wheras in the UK cars were still not very common in the 1940s.

It is a combination of the Japanese business strategies (which non-japanese companies are now beginning to employ), and a difference in cultural attitudes that makes the reliability difference between the respective nations' cars.

Answer 2

Maybe in the price range I agree but otherwise I think some of the German cars particularly BMW are just as if not more reliable that the japanese cars. But even the Japanese cars manufactured in the U.S. are more reliable so I would say it is design, plus tight tolerances on components which makes it possible to automate a lot of the assembly. Which makes them very consistent.

Answer 3

The Japanese seem to take more pride in what they make, and are willing to learn from past mistakes and improve on them. Take Toyota for instance, they have discovered that a minor fundamental design flaw can result in older cars using to much oil. What Toyota have done is extend the warranty on these engines to 7 years, 120,000 miles provided you have a decent service history. I've just had the engine and catalytic converter replaced free of charge on my 2001 90,000 mile Corolla.
I used to work with Ford and Rover and there is no way those companies would do something like that.

Answer 4

Loyalty to the company they work for, pride in what they do and workers being raised in a culture where discipline is highly regarded. As far as design, engineering and manufacturing goes, there's not a huge amount of difference between the Japanese and European companies, at least there's no particular overall advantage on either side. It does seem to stem from the fact that they simply have more dedicated workforces.

Answer 5

I even do not have any awl to grind one way or the different and do not personal a jap vehicle, yet basically to be honest ~ once you adult men are slagging the jap vehicle makers about the remembers what you're not any further declaring is that in maximum situations' there have been a minute type of reported faults and the jap spoke back spoke back through recalling 1000's of 1000's of vehicles (in certain situations') and doing a fix, 'basically in case'. Many different makers would have basically quietly repaired the affected vehicles. and suggested no longer some thing. you need to furnish the jap makers correct marks for honesty and ethics.

Answer 6

if u wanna find out why . open the engine of a Japanese car and take a look inside . u'll find a small Japanese dude practicing yoga . -_- . do u think if a couple of Internet whammers would know how they wont be working in a car company ? or the other car manufacturers wouldn't do it their selves to improve their cars .

Answer 7

I suspect that their training is very, very good and ongoing, the staff are totally motivated to work for one employer for life (unlike the UK) and people are proud of what they do. Quality control in Japan seems to be real, unlike crap UK firms who pretend to have QC.

Examples: Quality control at Bernard Matthews? QC at PCWorld where they totally wiped ALL the documents on my PC, despite saying that they would not and NO apology? QC at NTL where it is NOT possible to speak to anyone? QC at BT where you speak to people in India who can't do anything but read from a script?


The Japanese do everything PROPERLY!

Answer 8

In the West, quality control is inhibited by unions. In Japan, quality control is enhanced by the Katana.

Answer 9

Quality control and properly trained workforce.

I had several Japanese-made Nissan`s and they were excellent
then I was silly enough to buy a new NISSAN ALMERA built
in Sunderland, UK and it was crap.

Answer 10

Quality control and attention to detail,plus a happy workforce.