Originally posted by sigma:
I never claimed that Ford hadn't done the same things in the past or that Toyota's issues were different. But rather that you don't see equal reporting on Toyota's mishaps.

And I think you helped that point along -- you know precisely the problems that Ford has had, but I'm willing to bet money that you hadn't heard a thing about the criminal investigations at Toyota. Very few people have, and it's current news, only a couple weeks old. When Ford did it it was HUGE news, front page everywhere and headlines for weeks. When Toyota gets the exact same thing, it was never mentioned in any major news establishment and was relegated to the backs of the Business section of local newspapers at best.

And I referred to recall numbers because that's what the Media does. Until recently, that was much to the detriment of the US industry simply because they sold so many more cars than the competition so they could easily have an announcement of a "500,000 car recall" whereas others didn't sell that many cars in an entire year, let alone one model. Percentage of total sold fleet is a much better metric and Severity would of coure be ideal, but not easily quantifiable. In regards to Toyota, their severity would be rather high as well. The Prius had a problem which would cause total loss of steering at highway speeds. Hundreds of thousands of Toyotas had a problem with airbags that would cause them to not fully inflate in the event of an accident. Neither of which I would consider very minor.



You'd be wrong about me not knowing about the Toyota recall and investigation. It was on google news several days ago, and I knew about it before I read it there. However, I will agree that Ford and GM will get bad coverage when they have a recall and Toyota and Honda will barely get a mention. But the news tells people what they want to hear and to some extent our country has a domestic car inferiority complex. We want to see and hear when Ford and GM fail and we don't want to see and hear when Honda and Toyota do.

Do I believe that all Toyotas are goldern and all Ford cars are scum? The answer is no, there are certain Toyotas I would never buy. A Celica GT-S isn't a substitute for a Mustang, and according to the magazine CR (which I know you guys think are totally biased) the Mustang was the single most reliable car in 2005, more reliable than a Lexus or Toyota anything. Would I ever buy a Tundra over an F150, not if I wanted a real truck and not some girly toy to drive on road only. Would I buy a Tacoma over a Ranger? Nope, the Ranger is more reliable, cheaper to maintain, and costs less up front when identically equipped.

I'm not an American Car hater, I don't want to see them do poorly. Many of my friends and family rely on their sucess to keep afloat financially. I don't want to see them go under, but they need to do better and they need to get people to see they are doing better. I don't know how they'll do that, but it is what they need to do.