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The Whole Toyota Debacle.......Your Thoughts.
Howard_Casto:
I think that people are letting toyota get off a little to easily. It isn't the fact that they had a problem with the cars, every car has bugs and flaws that reveal themselves over time. The problem is they knew about the problem(s) for YEARS and rather than fixing them, they decided to cover it up and us their hefty corporate might to ban the safety commissions from even investigating the problem. These aren't minor issues like we've seen in the past on recalls either... not being able to stop your car is a BIG ---smurfin--- DEAL!
The people who have responded with things like "Well they admitted the cars had a problem and are handling the recall nicely so I'll keep buying from them." Are living in a DREAM WORLD. They did NOT admit they had a problem until it became so public and so many people had been injured and/or LOST THEIR LIVES that they were forced to. Even then, they didn't take any real action until every news broadcast in the US hammered them daily about how their "fixes" weren't working. Even now the proposed fixes are laughable.
Since this seems to be confusing some, let me put it in gamer terms.
When the wii was first released there were rumors (turned out to be just that) of people getting injured from their wrist strap breaking on their wiimotes and getting hit with flying controllers. Nintendo IMMEDIATELY issued a recall promotion and improved the strap sending it out to every registered wii user for free. Keep in mind they didn't have to as no real injuries had ever been reported, but they did it anyway beacuse they were making a ton of money off the wii and felt morally responsible for their failure. They went on to release yet another strap revision and now all wiimotes come packed with an optional gel cover. Keep in mind nobody ever got hurt, but they did all of this because they were worried somebody MIGHT get hurt. This, friends, is a responsible business model.
Now think of the xbox 360. The damn thing had issues since day 1 and yet it took M$ nearly three YEARS to even admit there was a problem. Even now they have no real solution to the problem and the flaw apparently still exists and their "solution" is to extend the warranty an additional year, which is crap because most people keep a game console for 5 years or more. This is what toyota did guys. Basically they pretended the problem didn't exist for years and when they were found out only offered a non-solution that doesn't really address the core issue.
Now keep in mind I own both a wii and 360, but hey, a dead 360 won't kill me. A runaway car on the other hand just might.
I own a chevy, mom owns a pontiac, grandma owns a ford. We support these brands beacause it helps our nations economy and in our opinion they offer a superior product, despite the fact that they don't come with as many bells and whistles. Perhaps you should all consider buying american and seeing what a REAL car is like.
With that being said, if the US auto industry doesn't wise up and start offering full on electric cars, I might have to change that policy. Oil is an irresponsible fuel source at this point and the only way to develop better technology is to get the alternatives out to market NOW... thus driving down the cost this new tech.
People always have the argument "the tech isn't ready yet" and they are right. But it isn't ready because we haven't sold it. When the ipod first came out a solid state mp3 player was 400 bucks minimum. 10 years later you can pick up a cheap one for under 20 bucks. Nothing has really changed except for the fact that demand for the product became so great that streamlined production naturally occured and thus the price of components went down.
But I'm rambling....
Long story short........ Toyota Bad! American Cars Good!
TOK:
--- Quote from: Howard_Casto on March 07, 2010, 01:37:40 pm ---
But I'm rambling....
Long story short........ Toyota Bad! American Cars Good!
--- End quote ---
There are no American cars, only American car companies. All of them build cars in Mexico and Canada. Chevy slaps their name on Daewoo's (Aveo) and most of their mainstream cars use a platform developed by Opal. Google Epsilon and Delta platforms if you want enlightenment.
Toyota and GM share an assembly plant in Freemont CA.
Nissan has a huge factory in Mississippi.
What is more American, a Nissan built by Americans or a Chevy built by $3 per hour Mexicans?
To put it in gamer terms for you, your XBox might be from Microsoft, but its made in China.
AtomSmasher:
Just got around to reading the second page of this thread and thought I'd mention that about 4 months ago Saturn (a GM company) did an out of warranty repair on my car as if it was still under warranty. It wasn't as major as a new transmission, but I was still very grateful to not have to pay to get the repair done. Also, they obviously weren't looking to do me a favor in the hopes that I would be a repeat customer since Saturn had already announced that all their dealerships would be closing down.
hyiu:
--- Quote from: Howard_Casto on March 07, 2010, 01:37:40 pm ---......beacuse they were making a ton of money off the wii and felt morally responsible for their failure. They went on to release yet another strap revision and now all wiimotes come packed with an optional gel cover. Keep in mind nobody ever got hurt, but they did all of this because they were worried somebody MIGHT get hurt. This, friends, is a responsible business model.
...
I own a chevy, mom owns a pontiac, grandma owns a ford. We support these brands beacause it helps our nations economy and in our opinion they offer a superior product, despite the fact that they don't come with as many bells and whistles. Perhaps you should all consider buying american and seeing what a REAL car is like.
People always have the argument "the tech isn't ready yet" and they are right. But it isn't ready because we haven't sold it. When the ipod first came out a solid state mp3 player was 400 bucks minimum. 10 years later you can pick up a cheap one for under 20 bucks. Nothing has really changed except for the fact that demand for the product became so great that streamlined production naturally occured and thus the price of components went down.
But I'm rambling....
Long story short........ Toyota Bad! American Cars Good!
--- End quote ---
hmmm.... morally responsible for their failure ??
is it really that ? How do you know ?
Or maybe its good for their future business ??
given that maybe.... just maybe... noone is really hurt from a fly away wiimote...
but we have seen videos on broken LCD screens that caused by fly away wiimote...
I'm no lawyer, but if Nintendo does not fix that quick, I'm smelling lawsuit and property damage with a defective product...
yes, its good that Nintendo fixes its problem... but put it as MORALLY RESPONSIBLE ?
I think that is pushing it.
I think Nintendo, is just like most other company, is looking for profit, maybe a smarter company that will willing to spend a little of its profit margin for longer term profit and minimize potential lawsuits.
----
On another note,
I used to own a Pontiac, then Acura, then Lexus.
I learned how to fix car with the Pontiac. It gives me so much problem. leaking motor oil, steering fluid, transmission fluid... (at that time, I didn't even know there were so freaking many different kind of oils in a car...) alternator problem, over heat problem. died on me on the road multi times.
Acura and Lexus, on the other hand, are better built, better quality products...
(purely based on my personal experiences.)
I will not go to American brands.... until they can come out with something that ican beat competition hands down, and so far, I don't see any sign of it.
---------
and as others have said... American cars might not be build in US, while Jap cars are no longer coming from Japan. I believe cars like Accord, and Camry are now made in US, but I'm no expert.
My lexus is made in Canada, not exactly Jap made.
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As for elecrtic / hybird cars, when owning one cost less then a normal car over the lifetime of a car, tthen I'll buy.
According to what I read... again limited personal opinion, Pirus is the only one that will come out ahead. also, maintainence and resell value suffers.
Keep in mind, car is no MP3 players.
the BIGGEST 2 purchases in your life will probably be house, and car.
While I might buy a Tube power amp for $3000 and "take a gamble"...
when it comes to a car which I'm stuck for probably 5+yrs and $30+k,
I would rather be safe than sorry...
So, comparing mp3 players, ipod, and electric / hybird cars is not a good example.
FrizzleFried:
--- Quote from: Fordman on March 04, 2010, 04:06:38 am ---We have the Lexus (fancy Camry) that went out of control for 6 miles at speeds of over 100mph in Tennesee, USA that we all heard about on tv from the owner.
--- End quote ---
This happened in SANTEE, CALIFORNIA not Tennesee... I used to live about a mile from the "end of freeway" that those poor folks came down and hit the barrier.
(EDIT: Not sure if you're talking about the same incident.... the situation in Santee ended with a family dying and the driver was a guy who was a Highway Patrolman...)
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