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The Detroit Curse

Discussion in 'Fred's House of Pancakes' started by airportkid, Mar 2, 2012.

  1. airportkid

    airportkid Will Fly For Food

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    What is it with US auto manufacturers that they can't grasp that reliability matters? 8 out of the 10 afflicted vehicles below are Detroit's iron.

    Here Are The Cars Mechanics See The Most


    I've owned a 67 Dodge Cornet, 3 70s/80s Civics, a 95 Saturn station wagon and the Prius. The early Civics had a single, albeit serious, achilles heel - when the water pumps went, and they did, if you let the engine cook you warped the aluminun head. I did it twice. It was the only maintenance issue I had with them, and my fault for procrastinating replacing the pump, thinking I could prevent overheating by carefully managing the driving. Dumb.

    But every car I'd owned or had experience with lost its water pump sometime. It was routine enough you'd change them like changing tires. The exception is the Prius - at 100K miles so far there's no sign its water pump is letting go - perhaps because the ICE isn't going every mile of that 100K the water pump still has mileage left.

    All other maintenance was on the Dodge and the Saturn: a universal joint, two transmissions, an exhaust pipe that fell off and dragged on the ground. And one day driving serenely along something went pop and the overhead light assembly was suddenly dangling by its wires next to my ear. The Dodge and Saturn ended their lives at the wreckers; the Civics were sold.

    I haven't touched the Prius except to change oil, have it lubed and put tires on it. Amazing car.

    And it's cemented a pretty strong personal bias: I will NEVER, EVER again buy a US made car. And the slide show above seems to confirm the wisdom of that prejudice.

    Buy why? The minds in the US auto industry aren't made of wood. Or maybe they are.
     
    #1 airportkid, Mar 2, 2012
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  2. amm0bob

    amm0bob Permanently Junior...

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    I probably will buy another American car... after we finish buying property...

    It will probably be a convertible... and blue...

    As for getting another Prius... I definately will... it has been a relatively trouble free car for me the first nearly 40K miles... I can't say that about any other car I have ever owned except for the Plymouth Voyager... which did have an engine idler wheel and transmission problem at 25K...
     
    #2 amm0bob, Mar 2, 2012
  3. Chuck.

    Chuck. Former Honda Enzyte Driver

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    I'll give Ford and maybe GM a chance - it's Chrysler that gets the worst reviews in Consumer Reports - definitely worse than any other carmaker.
     
    #3 Chuck., Mar 2, 2012
  4. jadziasman

    jadziasman Prius owner emeritus

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    How about the engine air filter on your Prius? Unless you have a reusable one, you should have replaced it by now.
     
    #4 jadziasman, Mar 2, 2012
  5. ETC(SS)

    ETC(SS) The OTHER One Percenter.....

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    It's probably due to several factors, but if you had to pick one...it's the employees. That's what it usually boils down to.

    I've worked in a unionized company for the last 13 years. Before that....I spent 8 years as a non-unionized contractor. Same job title. STARK differences!
    I have to say that as an employee, I very much enjoy working in a union shop. Pay isn't merit based, so that cuts out about 90-percent of the local office politics. The very best employee......well, he or she makes just as much as the very worst employee that manages not to touch a third rail.
    Pretty groovy stuff...unless you're trying to be competitive with folks that are a little bit hungrier than you are. THEN....you have to start making compromises to keep your product or service competitive, because everybody shops for the best value for their buck!!! Just ask Apple.
    Sometimes those compromises lead to quality issues that aren’t especially the fault of individual employees.

    OK...so It's been a while since I've been to Japan and Korea, but I'm thinking that their workers are perhaps held to a little different standard. Wages in Japan are probably on par with US wages....I do not know, but I'm guessing that there is a little different culture of individual on-the-job responsibility than that which is present in the US.
    They might even have the ability to hold individual workers to productivity and Q/A metrics---who knows?
    I'm guessing that on the Korean peninsula, if you don't want to be productive---or cannot be productive, then there are a few thousand folks on the other side of the fence that can sit in your chair in about 5 minutes.

    It's really hard to pin down, and US car manufacturers are getting un-tucked here lately guessing from some of the ink that I'm reading about some of their latest offerings. Heck.....my (other) boss even said he wanted to buy a Volt when he gets to drive himself around again.

    Who knows? Maybe the Detroit curse is winding its way back down.
    It could happen you know....
    Boston did eventually win a "post Bambino" World Series....:D
     
    #5 ETC(SS), Mar 2, 2012
  6. mmcdonal

    mmcdonal Active Member

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    I don't think the Prius water pump is driven by a drive belt. I think it is electric and not attached to the engine. I think the thermostat is electronic as well. That may have something to do with it.
     
    #6 mmcdonal, Mar 2, 2012
  7. FL_Prius_Driver

    FL_Prius_Driver Senior Member

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    Reading though the list, the one bizzare fault that shows up is falling headliners. The thing that is amazing about that problem is how hard you have to work at it to find an adhesive misformulation that fails so consistently.
     
    #7 FL_Prius_Driver, Mar 2, 2012
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