On Jan 30, 8:25*am, Phisherman wrote:
On Sat, 30 Jan 2010 06:11:59 -0800 (PST), RonB
wrote:

CNN: *"Toyota's president Akio Toyoda apologized for the gas pedal
problems that have forced the recall of millions of vehicles, Japanese
media reported."

What a difference from the approach other auto manufacturer's have
used when faced with a major problem. *Apologize. * The norm has been
deny it. *deny it. deny it. *Then grudgingly fix it while continuing
to deny a real problem.

My first car was a Honda Civic. *Honda recalled the fenders because
mud collected up underneath and rusted the fender out from the inside.
They replaced my fenders, no charge. *They stood by their product and
when I needed a new car I remembered what happened and my new car was
another Honda. * Perhaps American auto-makers do not stand behind
their product like others which explains why Japanese owners are so
loyal to their brand.

Yep. Japan gained their foothold in the American auto industry during
the early to mid 1970's when Detroit started building disposable
cars. During that period we owned a 71 Chevy Vega GT and I needn't
say anything more (Except it was Motor Trend's car of the year -
Yipee!). After a combined 6 months in the shop waiting for parts and
repairs, we traded for a new 74 Cutlass Supreme. In four months we
started seeing rust around the opera windows. GM "fixed" that and it
immediately restarted. The electrical system was a mess. When we got
rid of it three years later the entire car was rusted out. The trunk
latch was held in place with bondo. That is when we traded for a
Volvo which we drove 130K miles and turned it over to our daughter for
a college car and she put 40+K more on it before trade. When Volvo
out priced us (2 cars later) we turned to Hondas, and our current
160,000 mile Toyota. Other than normal maintenance (shocks, brakes,
etc) the Toyota has NEVER BEEN REPAIRED! In fairness, our other
vehicle, a Chevy Duramax has also been very good at 42K miles. Also,
by comparison, we slipped an '86 Blazer in with the Volvos and drove
it for 8-10 years. But it saw three radiators, a steering sector, two
water pumps, etc, etc, etc.

RonB