What's wrong with American cars?

Question

I hear so much about stuff failing things breaking with American cars, it's maddening. Why has the quality of these cars plummeted in favor of the Foreign automakers? Personally, I think American cars are nice looking, take the Chrysler 300C or Sebring and the Dodge Charger and Avenger. Heck, the Saturn Outlook looks better than a Rav4 or a Pilot. Cars like Accord, Civic, Maxima, and especially the Prius are just straight fugly. How are they selling.

Answer 1

Its all perception. I personally get sick of hearing about how great toyota and hondas are, and american cars are all plastic. Hmm last time I checked toyota and honda put plastic in their interiors to. I guess jap plastic just must be made different right?

Answer 2

There's nothing wrong with American cars.

They often place in all the quality surveys, and the quality gap that existed with the Japanese is so close that the difference is negligible.

So, in reality, I cannot fathom where you're getting your information.

However, there's two big problems the American companies are facing in the industry: Toyota and Honda.

Toyota has perfected the toaster on wheels, as a large percentage of the buying public don't care about cars. Plus, they have the best-selling hybrid in the US, which has been an enormous PR coup for the company.

Honda continues to make interesting little cars. Honda's core competency is its engines, and its shows. Other companies would be smart to mimic Honda's ways.

There are enormous organizational problems in Detroit right now, and I hope it doesn't take a toll on its cars. Out of all the Big 3, Ford is the most f***ked.

Answer 3

There really is no difference. Its just perception that American made = junk and Japanese and European made = amazing. In reality they all make 95% good and 5 % bad. Everybody makes a lemon now and then. The other problem is when a Big 3 company recalls a car its front page news and all about how much junk they sell and they should have fixed it before they sold it. Japanese company recalls a car and it just shows they care because they are fixing something wrong and if it even makes the news its on the back page. The Japanese are also notorious for covering up problems (Toyota - engine sluge, Honda - automatic transmission, Mitsubishi - pretty much everything, Nissan - truck axles) so once again you just dont hear about it.

Most quality surveys show that currently American cars are just as good as Japanese cars. European cars are actually worse than both. The differences between a good car and a bad car these days are so small that you could ignore it.

Answer 4

For years, the focus has been on the bottom line, and not quality. Fortunately, foreign automakers have been putting pressure on american car manufacturers, making them reevaluate how they put cars together. As a result, I think we can see the quality rise back up, especially if the Big 3 expect to stay in business.

Answer 5

I have worked at Toledo Jeep Wrangler Assembly plant for 29 years and we take as much pride in our work as any Toyota worker.The quality of American cars is just as good if not better then foreign.I have had many GM and Chrysler vehicles go over 150,000 miles with no problems,people just don't maintain their vehicles and then blame the automakers.Oh by the way the Jeep Wrangler is selling very well with an average of 1500 orders per day right now.

Answer 6

Really bad, cost driven management.
Given any American car model, the there are so many different parts changing year to year. Not because better parts are available... Managers are constantly looking for cheaper parts to reduce the cost.

In American company, managers are in control. If they want to reduce additional 5% in production cost, engineer have to shop for inferior parts to meet the numbers. Companies like Honda, engineers tell the managers which parts the car would require, and managers find a way to get the parts at reasonable cost. Difference in thinking. Managers actually respect the engineers decision. Not like American companies that managers tell the engineers what to use.

Answer 7

Much of the reason American cars have a failing grade is because America has chosen to "outsource" it's manufacturing to foreign countries like China, and well while we can pay them A LOT less to build our cars and still call them American the quality is much less... We drive American cars Ford's and have little to no problems with them.. However they are older models.. I haven't seen many Pruis on the road.. Having a family a small car doesn't do it for us.. We are still hanging on to our full size sedan's before venturing into minivan country....

Answer 8

Because the american populace is LAZY! I know i'm going to get crap over this, but a majority of americans are only interested in money. Its like the old saying goes, an honest weeks pay for an honest day's work. If pay scales were to become performance based, instead of seniority based, there would be a TON of people out there without a job. And the auto workers are no exception. If you get paid 35 bucks an hour to install 4 bolts, then INSTALL THE BOLTS RIGHT!!!
As an independent repair manager, I see all makes and models, and it seems that the foreign companies have a better build quality, because THEY CARE ABOUT THEIR PRODUCT!!

Answer 9

What happen is American auto makers where king after gas prices and what not they still where king, they dont have such a great product control as other auto markers do even now there cars are as good as imports but the damage is out there. Great for 1/4 racing

Answer 10

American automakers have to pay high wages and benefits to their employees as well as all of their retirees because of deals struck with the automaker unions. And since employees are the greatest expense of any company and they can't cut corners there, they must cut corners elsewhere, such as with quality. Companies like Toyota don't have to worry about unions or paying their employees.

Answer 11

Keep this in mind- The worst rated GM car is a Pontiac Vibe- guess who it's built by?! TOYOTA- Foreign car companies love to wrap themselves in the American Flag but their contributions to the american economy cannot compare. Every day, nearly one million Americans earn their living helping GM build and sell cars in the US. And think about this- GM is the only domestic manufacturer to rank of industry average in JD Powers Vehicle Dependibility study. 40% improvement over the last 3 years. Cadillac outranked Lexus and Buick and Cadillac both finished higher than Toyota.