Is anyone else not particularly surprised about Toyota's current spate of problems? There were a considerable number of consumer complaints on their V-6 engine oil galley design up until 2004 when they finally changed the design. Hundreds of engines failed and sometimes Toyota helped and other times they didn't. Then there was the problem with the Prius loosing traction on wet/icy/gravel roads and shutting down the engine wherever the car was. One guy out in Texas couldn't get up his driveway and Toyota sent engineers to--do what? They didn't admit it, didn't fix it, didn't recall it, etc. Now, all of a sudden, we have brakes and gas pedals and and power steering and who knows what else. I for one am tired of hearing the American Automobile writers bash the American built cars and trucks. It's like they've had a love affair with the Japanese for the last twenty years and nothing the foreigners did was wrong and nothing the Americans did was right. Oh, we've put out some real bummers, but who hasn't? I put 265,000 miles on a '96 Caprice and when I sold it, it didn't use a drop of oil, had the same engine and tranny in it from original, still got 28 mpg @ 70mph on the interstates and was as comfortable a car as I've ever owned. Maybe now the automobile pundits will start to realize that maybe, just maybe they've been snowed.
Jim

What surprises me is that they didn't figure out how to hide it from the Feds until it blew over. Back when VW Bugs were everywhere, they had a known defect where in a rear end collision the seat rails broke which propelled the passenger heads into a steel bar hidden in the rear seat upholstery. When the US Feds asked for documentation, the Germans just said no. We all remember the Pinto and the Corvair recalls, but few ever heard of the VW issues. An there never was a recall.

The fallacy of superiority of foreign vehicles are finally coming to light. The Japanese, Germans, Korean's, etc. are good engineers, but also human. My son's Camry with it's infallible engineering threw a rod right out the oil pan at 137,000 miles. I like Jim have had most Chevy's roll past 200k without much trouble. We have GMC pickups in our fleet all delivering outstanding service for 10+ years. Their are many considerations for purchasing autos, and many of them are not based on value. For us here in Michigan every Kia I see on the road equates to another of my neighbor's on the unemployment line. I realize the US companies built some real clunkers in the past, but also have many products of which they can be proud. Not everything is as high quality as the Barths. (Not speaking from experience, I haven't even picked mine up yet.) But I do enjoy the topics and discussion items here at Barthmobile.com.

I remember the Pinto problems, all too clearly. I was rearended in a Pinto, while at a full stop.....back surgery 4 times due to that one....the AMAZING thing is, it was the very NEXT WEEK that the Pinto blew up, killing those kids, that could have been me.......

I look at the Toyotas, etc. and I see the floor mats rising up over the gas pedal, saw that from the start, now that's not the whole issue, but certainly one should have enough common sense to ensure that the mat does not rise over the gas pedal.

We test drove a Prius prior to getting our new car. For the price, we were not impressed. Would have had to drive the thing 10 years to recoup the difference. We settled on a Dodge Caliber and love it. Not quite the gas mileage, but a nice little a-b car.

Hate to say this, but I think the US automakers need to look in their employee parking lots.....if you work in America, you need to buy American, from top to bottom. Just my personal opinion....

Tina

I'm with you Tina. I'm tired of Americans getting screwed by every foreign government in existence. Other than my 28 year old Volvo(and I wouldn't even consider a new one), I'm strictly American and will continue to be. Our consumer bubble has supported a lot of foreign economies and I can guarantee that the radical Muslims aren't the only group in the world that would love to see us sink. From now on, they're on their own. And Paulson and the rest of the Wall Street gurus can rail all they want to about the so-called 'world economy' being more important than our own and about the 'domino' effect. I'll buy American as much as I can and make da** sure I need it before I buy from any off shore country (that includes all the off shore companies that have plants here in the US and send all the profits 'back home'-what ever 'back home' means)