Why are American branded trucks and most American branded vehicles so unreliable?

[2five7]

Why were the 6.0 Ford F250's and 5.4 F150's that you need to pull the engine to get to the broken spark plugs ever recalled. Not to mention the cam phasers and lack of oil pressure that burnt heads up. Reliable you say?

Where did you see that you have to pull the engine to get plugs out of a 5.4? I've done several, broken a few plugs, they come out easily with the extractor tool.

 

[Jbrow327]

The issue is the willingness of the manufacturer to admit a problem (Toyota flat out said they don't make defective vehicles...Arrogance AND stupidity in its highest form) and the other is the nature of the recall.

Is it a vanity mirror light that only works part of the time or is it THE LEAF SPRINGS AND FRAME UNDER THE BED OF WHAT SOME PEOPLE WOULD CALL A TRUCK?

I shouldn't have to shout like that but some people just refuse to admit when their favorite brand puts out a POS....And the fanbois keep running to them.

Counting the minutes till somebody posts how great their Toyotas are and I will reply 'Then Toyota should have asked you before they issued a recall.'

Dana, an American manufacturer, made those frames.

 

[grfox92]

Why were the 6.0 Ford F250's and 5.4 F150's that you need to pull the engine to get to the broken spark plugs ever recalled. Not to mention the cam phasers and lack of oil pressure that burnt heads up. Reliable you say?

Your talking a about 2003-2009 for the 5.4 and 2003 to I believe 2006 for the 6.0. Your entire impression of Fords realiablility is based on 2 specific engines over a 3 year and 6 year period?

Sent from my SM-G990U using Tapatalk

 

[Thinkingman]

Dana, an American manufacturer, made those frames.

Yup.
Who designed a weak C-section and spec'd the cheapest steel they could find?
I guarantee you that Dana produced that frame to spec.
What about the leaf springs that were absolute crap?

 

[Thinkingman]

Here's an example for Toyota fanbois of what you have versus what you think you have....
Twerker vs Hilux

 

[Jbrow327]

Yup.
Who designed a weak C-section and spec'd the cheapest steel they could find?
I guarantee you that Dana produced that frame to spec.
What about the leaf springs that were absolute crap?

At least Toyota doesn't have drivetrain issues. So that's good. Domestic vehicles have far more serious failures.

 

[CorbLand]

@Thinkingman you were warned about your last Toyota tirade…might want to think about that before a mod does it for you.

 

[PVHunter]

I think 120+k miles on a GM transmission is about par, according to a regular GM buyer I know.

Had a transmission bite the dust at 123K in a 2014 Suburban this year in a remote area on my way to a hunt. I was surprised to have a transmission up and die on me, but more than one shop said 120ish was on the low end but well within a standard deviation of when most GM trannies go toes up.

 

[Thinkingman]

@Thinkingman you were warned about your last Toyota tirade…might want to think about that before a mod does it for you.

I will keep presenting facts until too many hurt feelings get me in trouble.

 

[Thinkingman]

At least Toyota doesn't have drivetrain issues. So that's good. Domestic vehicles have far more serious failures.

You must have missed my cut and paste on the problems Toyota 3.0 and 3.4 had with head gaskets.
Prius is a headgasket muncher, too.

 

[Jbrow327]

You must have missed my cut and paste on the problems Toyota 3.0 and 3.4 had with head gaskets.

Those were extremely rare. On domestic vehicles check engine lights and drivetrain issues are the norm, not an anomaly like Toyota head gaskets.

 

[fmyth]

At least Toyota doesn't have drivetrain issues. So that's good. Domestic vehicles have far more serious failures.

Like all manufactures domestic and import the new Toyota trucks have their fair share of drivetrain issues. The are many reports of turbo and engine failures in the new Tundra:

 

[CorbLand]

The problem with every brand/model of anything is that there is always one that has issues.

 

[Sapcut]

Had a transmission bite the dust at 123K in a 2014 Suburban this year in a remote area on my way to a hunt. I was surprised to have a transmission up and die on me, but more than one shop said 120ish was on the low end but well within a standard deviation of when most GM trannies go toes up.

That is just awful. How does any professional in the car business or even a sane owner of those vehicles with the terrible tranny products defend such auto design incompetance?

I'm adding it up now but ..... although they all my explode by nightfall, the five Land Cruisers my family has been driving now has a total of 1,827,000 miles. Zero tranny issues. We didn't put all the miles on them but a ton we have and are.

Just a funny....my wife took two of her employees to eat for their birthday recently. They said...."Wow, we get to ride in Ms. Lisa's fancy truck. Mine is already 6 years old." They had no idea it is 19 years old with 358k miles. And it is still "fancy", wearing very well because the Japanese made it in Japan.

 

[Jbrow327]

Like all manufactures domestic and import the new Toyota trucks have their fair share of drivetrain issues:

There are literally less than 100 tundras total that have had that problem. You can go through all the tundra forums on the internet that have 10s of thousands of members and you'll hardly see any mention of it. Because it's a Toyota that is pretty much always reliable, it makes big news.

Meanwhile, Ford has 3 million recalls for transmission "rollaways".

 

[CorbLand]

That is just awful. How does any professional in the car business or even a sane owner of those vehicles with the terrible tranny products defend such auto design incompetance?

I'm adding it up now but ..... although they all my explode by nightfall, the five Land Cruisers my family has been driving now has a total of 1,827,000 miles. Zero tranny issues. We didn't put all the miles on them but a ton we have and are.

Wife had a Nissan that the tranny went out at 109,000. It was a known issue with that tranny and Nissan basically told us that was acceptable mileage for a tranny.

 

[fmyth]

There are literally less than 100 tundras total that have had that problem. You can go through all the tundra forums on the internet that have 10s of thousands of members and you'll hardly see any mention of it. Because it's a Toyota that is pretty much always reliable, it makes big news.

Meanwhile, Ford has 3 million recalls for transmission "rollaways".

Google Toyota Tacoma transmission problems, Ford 10 speed truck transmission class action lawsuit, GM 8 speed transmission lawsuit. Many manufactures are having QC issues right now.

 

[Maverick1]

Conversely, why are Japanese trucks and vehicles so reliable?

What is your reliability experience with both American and Japanese trucks?

I've posted this before, and I'll post it again. It's unfortunate that most people will scroll right past the actual data, gathered from over a million vehicles that have been independently inspected, which will indicate which makes/models are more reliable with the significant components of a vehicle.

Use the data. It will answer the questions regarding vehicle reliability.

There are a few threads here debating this topic, specifically around compact trucks and full-size trucks.

To save some clicks:

• Toyota (422k vehicles inspected)
• Chevy (376k vehicles inspected)
• Nissan
• Ford
• Dodge

Yes, the data shows that Toyota is rated higher than chevy, dodge, ford, and nissan.

For trucks

• Tundra
• Titan
• F-Series
• Ram
• Silverado

Dodge Ram and Ford's F-series had some turd years.

 

[RS3579]

Don't laugh, but here's one factor to consider: we don't have a healthy workforce. Not saying its the main factor, but it's something I've been thinking about lately.

America has become one of the fattest nations on the face of the earth and in the history of time. 69% of US adults are overweight and of those, 36% are obese. 130 million adults are diabetic or prediabetic. 50% of US adults have hypertension. The list goes on. Obesity costs this country an estimated $150 billion a year in health care costs and lost productivity.

That matters because when you buy a vehicle, you're also paying for things like employee wages and astronomical healthcare costs. What gets funneled into paid sick leave and health coverage can't be spent on product improvements. And compared to foreign workforces, the workers building our cars are out sick more, which takes a toll on teams and makes accountability harder. That has to take a hit on quality, morale, and innovation.

Probably in the entire solar system also!

 

[fngTony]

I will keep presenting facts until too many hurt feelings get me in trouble.

You’re welcome to present facts, just don’t do it in a passive aggressive manner.