Why are foreign cars more reliable?

XtacY · 08-28-2006, 03:58 PM

This has been going on over a decade now and I woudl think American car makers would learn their lesson and start pushing relability more than anything else to keep up with competitors... but we still see the same trends going on - hondas toyats and nissans rarely break down while chevys dodges and fords have problems. Granted, there are exceptions to the rule which I'm sure you guys will point out to me (my friend had a civic and it always broke down or my dodge caravan is very reliable), but statistics wise japanese cars are still proven to have less parts fail than american cars. I've had my 05 mustang a year and a half, and while I love it, it has been a pain sometimes

Maybe its a first model year thing, but I've already had four things go wrong with it and its currently in the shop getting the transmission checked out. Who knows.

petepete · 08-28-2006, 04:17 PM

Watch the movie "Gung Ho". Its about how japanese take over an american auto plant. It explains it very accurately. "after the game we like to go see who can pee the farthest." "In japan, We pee for accuracy" Watch it o_O

8cd03gro · 08-28-2006, 04:53 PM

Different laws for worker rights in japan make it possible for japanese car companies to produce the same car we can produce here for a good amount cheaper. So a 20k car they build is going to really be a higher quality car than we build. it's sad, but it is true.

LiquidLenny · 08-28-2006, 05:16 PM

Americans are lazy for the most part combined with a poor attitude. Why do you think this country is so fat? After owning a Trans am in the 80's and seeing first hand how sh!tely american cars were made (repair after repair) I switched over to Toyota, until now. If it wasn't for the fact that the Mustang looked really good I would still be driving a Toyota. I still think they are made like crap and am concerned about the longevity of the damn thing! When will the problems start? American car manufactures from the ground up have this lousy ingrained work ethic that is so deeply rooted that I think America will continue to produce piece of sh!t car's forever more. It's part of our culture now. [&o]

chuckcsf · 08-28-2006, 05:38 PM

Toyota had the most recalls last year and there was an article a few years ago saying that Ford quality as gone up to par with Japs cars

petepete · 08-28-2006, 05:59 PM

Quote:

ORIGINAL: chuckcsf

Toyota had the most recalls last year and there was an article a few years ago saying that Ford quality as gone up to par with Japs cars

There have been articles that put them ahead of toyota and others in quality and articles that put them worse than everyone. Articles are just articles. They dont always state fact.

RoadLizard · 08-28-2006, 06:02 PM

I think it has to do with the whole Japanese culture. If you had ever had to manufacture a product and ship it to Japan for consumer use, you'd understand their tolerance of even "really good" quality is low. They want perfection. Quality in Japanese manufacturing plants is ingrained into the culture. They also don't have some of the silly labor situations we have tolerated in this country. In Japan, the auto worker is loyal to his company, not the UAW. In America, most UAW workers don't seem to care squat about the health of their company, the quality of their product, or anything besides the next contract.

As for the cost mentioned in a previous post, Toyota madates that all their OEM suppliers be located in a very close proximity to the assembly plants. This cuts cost by improving velocity and cutting shipping. Jap cars also are better than us at using more common parts between models, this lessens the number of skews in their inventory and cuts cost. I also think the Japs are better at, as Wayne Gretsky (sp?) used to say, "being where the puck is going, not where it is at." They obviously anticipate market changes more nimbly than the U.S. Big 3. Notice that Toyota, Honda, and Nissan haven't got stuck with numerous manufacturing lines tooled up for producing sub-20 MPG SUVs. They went were the puck was going to be years ago and by-golly, the puck is there with $3/gal gas.

That is my humble opinion (as a manufacturer) as to why foreign (specifically Asian) quality is better... It would take a complete sea-change to turn things around at the big 3, and I think they'd go broke trying not to get there. Neither unions nor management would tolerate a change to the current paradigm.

RoadLizard

Thomas Ford · 08-28-2006, 07:31 PM

Hmmm. Ok here's a "fact" for you. Besides my '06 Stang I own a 1981 FORD F-100 pickup. 287,560 miles on it, NEVER been rebuilt.
I had it smogged back in June and it DOESNT EVEN BURN OIL. Screw the japs I'm supporting our own country and our own workers. Hell they attack our country and people go out and buy their cars. A Lexus? Give me a break. It's a glorified Toyota and looks like crap after a couple of years. The japs are laughing their a$$ off.

Meph · 08-28-2006, 08:14 PM

The Japanese build a quality car, the Americans build a quality paycheck. That in a nutshell sums it up right there. Coming from a born and raised American, there are countless listings of what I can be proud of, of how we can and do excell in certain aspects. But car manufacturing and labor attitude is simply not one of them. We are an industreous people, but also do what we can to scam our way out of work a lot.

I hate unions, they serve no purpose except to drive up the end price to the consumer. I truly wish I had the foresight to keep this article I read back in like 2004. It stated that the average Japanese car has only about 7 people building it, the rest electronic and robots. Whereas American cars have on average 35 people. Hence one major reason behind our price differences.

If they really wanted to secure their jobs then they would bust their ass and produce the best quality possible. Instead that's not the case just rely on the Union to secure it for you. Shody work can go on. I don't agree with it but then again I bought a Mustang. Like Randal Graves, I hate people yet I love gatherings. Isn't it ironic?

But back on the Japanese, sure they sing the company anthem as a zygote and lack a personality. But you ever see their children in school? Not highschool either just elementary school. Have you ever heard of an 7 year old committing suicide due to ridicule he received from fellow classmates? And not from being fat, or ugly, or smelly, or poor, or bad dressers as American kids get picked on. But because the standards and expectations are so high that failing a test will result in getting beat up! Yeah that's the culture difference. That's how other countries view things. Other countries, Japan in this case obviously, take education extremely serious. Americans more about fashion and status and popularity even before they should be concerned about them.

Want to know what else Japanese culture supports? Grants to make anything and everything. The government tosses out grants to people and companies constantly. To engineer, produce, patent, reverse engineer, patent that, then toss that aside and move on to the next item. Repeat process. That is just how they are.

And this whole "support American made" bull. First off Americans don't support American. They support cheapest. Period. Want proof? Look at how many mom and pop stores have been put out by Wal Mart. Think even half of their products are made in America? Guess again. Want more proof? I'm watching a Toshiba television. Talk on a Panasonic home phone. Motorola cell phone. Good luck finding American made in any of those categories. If Americans supported American then maybe it would be possible. But since they don't just have a fun adventure FINDING an American made TV.

So I refuse to jump on a bandwagon that the majority of Americans can't even see, and to jump on blindly just because it's American.

Keep in mind Ford laying off workers and moving shop to Mexico. Think they support America, or their own bottom dollar? Same goes with GM or any other outside automotive industry that aren't worth bringing up since this is a car forum.

justang05 · 08-28-2006, 08:15 PM

jap cars are not more reliable than american cars anymore! It was just that way for a short time so now everyone still thinks that. Just cause joe from accross the street says jap cars are more reliable does not mean i automatically think that, unlike some people...