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Ah, yes Toyota, a name that brings millions of Americans peace of mind. They know that if they buy a Toyota they are getting reliability and a guarantee of quality workmanship. Toyota and Lexus banners brazenly boast “LOWEST PRICE OF OWNERSHIP!!” and the masses are all too eager to eat that slogan up.
I’m here to tell you that today’s Toyota is not your parents Toyota — their quality has quietly been declining since 2007 in my opinion. In the shop I am constantly baffled by the issues newer Toyota’s are having. Prius’s and Highlanders are burning tons of oil at 50,000 miles, Prius’s are having weird electrical issues, transmissions are shifting oddly clunky for how old the car is. The Scion brand especially have more problems than you would expect. The FRS especially is plagued with a few gremlins such as faulty injectors, which STILL haven’t been hammered out by Toyota/Subaru. I’ve also seen a few cars leaking oil with less than 75,000 miles.
Has anyone else been noticing this shocking downward spiral in Toyota’s quality?
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[i]…Prius’s and Highlanders are burning tons of oil at 50,0000 miles, Prius’s are having weird electrical issues, transmissions are shifting oddly clunky for how old the car is. The Scion…
[/i]They burn oil at 50,0000 miles. Thats pretty good. Where are your customers driving to ???? I would expect most motors to disintegrate with that many miles. What do Toyotas, have, granite cylinders ?
[quote=”andrewbutton442″ post=126706][i]…Prius’s and Highlanders are burning tons of oil at 50,0000 miles, Prius’s are having weird electrical issues, transmissions are shifting oddly clunky for how old the car is. The Scion…
[/i]They burn oil at 50,0000 miles. Thats pretty good. Where are your customers driving to ???? I would expect most motors to disintegrate with that many miles. What do Toyotas, have, granite cylinders ?[/quote]
whoops! hahaYou know what in all seriousness, I think your right. However, I don’t think its just Toyopet cars, its everything. wrenches, homes, appliances, peoples belief system, whatever modern, none of this stuff as good as days passed. I think it has to do with the cost of raw materials going up. Think about it this way, its hard to even get a good quality meal anymore.. compared to say when I was kid when every place had access to products or raw goods and materials you and I could not even dream of affording now. Megawealthy people now are getting off on buying products that are the quality of things you and i used to take for granted.
I agree 100% As of now Toyota is just riding on it’s reputation, a facade that will soon fade. All the problems you’ve mentioned are facts that Toyota is unwilling to acknowledge. Let’s not forget the unintended acceleration incident. That was proven to be Toyota’s doing and they covered it up.Toyota’s current customer service is horrible as well based on testimonials I’ve gotten from owners.
Here is an interesting article about the UI: http://www.edn.com/design/automotive/4423428/Toyota-s-killer-firmware–Bad-design-and-its-consequences
And the news story: http://www.dallasnews.com/business/autos-latest-news/20140319-toyota-reportedly-reaches-1.2b-settlement-to-end-investigation-over-sudden-acceleration.ece
[quote=”andrewbutton442″ post=126709]You know what in all seriousness, I think your right. However, I don’t think its just Toyopet cars, its everything. wrenches, homes, appliances, peoples belief system, whatever modern, none of this stuff as good as days passed. I think it has to do with the cost of raw materials going up. Think about it this way, its hard to even get a good quality meal anymore.. compared to say when I was kid when every place had access to products or raw goods and materials you and I could not even dream of affording now. Megawealthy people now are getting off on buying products that are the quality of things you and i used to take for granted.[/quote] Nothing is made like it used to be. Refrigerators used to last 20 years if not more. Now your lucky if you get 5.
[quote=”Chevyman21″ post=126714]I agree 100% As of now Toyota is just riding on it’s reputation, a facade that will soon fade. All the problems you’ve mentioned are facts that Toyota is unwilling to acknowledge. Let’s not forget the unintended acceleration incident. That was proven to be Toyota’s doing and they covered it up.Toyota’s current customer service is horrible as well based on testimonials I’ve gotten from owners.[/quote]
After I got hired I asked my service manager about unintended acceleration, his answer “it’s the customers fault”. I asked him how the FRS was selling just for lolz, and he says “they’re selling great!”. No they’re not selling great, the sole FRS on our lot has been sitting for months.Ugh… Deny, deny, deny, deny, that is how Toyota deals with the skeletons in their closet.
Come on now, Toyopet is only trying to keep up, or keep down if you will with current lack of Honda quality and service. Toyota seeing the high profit margin, no quality, eco minded garbage that the company wont back up, with sociopaths for customer service reps backing up nothing, and they want some of that action too.
[quote=”Pithy Radish” post=126718][quote=”Chevyman21″ post=126714]I agree 100% As of now Toyota is just riding on it’s reputation, a facade that will soon fade. All the problems you’ve mentioned are facts that Toyota is unwilling to acknowledge. Let’s not forget the unintended acceleration incident. That was proven to be Toyota’s doing and they covered it up.Toyota’s current customer service is horrible as well based on testimonials I’ve gotten from owners.[/quote]
After I got hired I asked my service manager about unintended acceleration, his answer “it’s the customers fault”. I asked him how the FRS was selling just for lolz, and he says “they’re selling great!”. No they’re not selling great, the sole FRS on our lot has been sitting for months.Ugh… Deny, deny, deny, deny, that is how Toyota deals with the skeletons in their closet.[/quote] Oh ya, edited my post with a study done on the UI, it’s very insightful and proves toyota was at fault. The news article I also posted shows how Toyota needed to be sued multiple times to admit it was wrong and that the customers werent to blame.
Toyota needs to remember what happened to the American auto industry that thought it was “too big to fail”. Those who forget history are doomed to repeat it.
As a foreign car mechanic (no Toyota dealer experience) I feel that the Japanese cars always break just like everything else.
Recalls, hundreds of service bulletins, chronic problems for which there are no bulletins, etc.
There’s always that catch-phrase. “I’ve heard that Toyotas don’t break down…” or “My Toyota is broken down. How can this be? It’s a Toyota….”.Speaking of manufacturing junk anymore; that applies to just about everything. Twice in the past years I’ve fixed a couple of plumbing leaks in my home. Off to Lowes and buy new galvanized pipe, unions, elbows, etc, etc.
In less than a year both of those repairs were leaking in the same places. Inspection showed pinhole leaks in the new pipe which was rotting through and rusted enough to where it looked 50 years old. Another leak involved a pinhole/major rust on a new pipe and the pipe union of all things was rotting through. All of that on new fittings less than a year old.I’ve got a refrigerator that still works great and it’s almost 35 years old. Back in 1983 I bought my wife a large microwave to help her out during the day while I was at work. That microwave has been through a bunch and still works fine after all these years.
I wonder how many fridges and microwaves made today will ever make it to 15 years much less 30.The new Frigidaire fridge my daughter bought (12 month warranty) died with a compressor failure at 13 months. No help at all so off to the scrap yard with it.
The appliance store: “Yeah, we’re getting a lot of complaints. The compressors are going bad”. Chinese crap.[quote=”Bluesnut” post=126737]As a foreign car mechanic (no Toyota dealer experience) I feel that the Japanese cars always break just like everything else.
Recalls, hundreds of service bulletins, chronic problems for which there are no bulletins, etc.
There’s always that catch-phrase. “I’ve heard that Toyotas don’t break down…” or “My Toyota is broken down. How can this be? It’s a Toyota….”.Speaking of manufacturing junk anymore; that applies to just about everything. Twice in the past years I’ve fixed a couple of plumbing leaks in my home. Off to Lowes and buy new galvanized pipe, unions, elbows, etc, etc.
In less than a year both of those repairs were leaking in the same places. Inspection showed pinhole leaks in the new pipe which was rotting through and rusted enough to where it looked 50 years old. Another leak involved a pinhole/major rust on a new pipe and the pipe union of all things was rotting through. All of that on new fittings less than a year old.I’ve got a refrigerator that still works great and it’s almost 35 years old. Back in 1983 I bought my wife a large microwave to help her out during the day while I was at work. That microwave has been through a bunch and still works fine after all these years.
I wonder how many fridges and microwaves made today will ever make it to 15 years much less 30.The new Frigidaire fridge my daughter bought (12 month warranty) died with a compressor failure at 13 months. No help at all so off to the scrap yard with it.
The appliance store: “Yeah, we’re getting a lot of complaints. The compressors are going bad”. Chinese crap.[/quote] Music is also very bad now, but that’s another discussion. Japanese makes are no better than any other make in any case.[quote=”Chevyman21″ post=126739][quote=”Bluesnut” post=126737]As a foreign car mechanic (no Toyota dealer experience) I feel that the Japanese cars always break just like everything else.
Recalls, hundreds of service bulletins, chronic problems for which there are no bulletins, etc.
There’s always that catch-phrase. “I’ve heard that Toyotas don’t break down…” or “My Toyota is broken down. How can this be? It’s a Toyota….”.Speaking of manufacturing junk anymore; that applies to just about everything. Twice in the past years I’ve fixed a couple of plumbing leaks in my home. Off to Lowes and buy new galvanized pipe, unions, elbows, etc, etc.
In less than a year both of those repairs were leaking in the same places. Inspection showed pinhole leaks in the new pipe which was rotting through and rusted enough to where it looked 50 years old. Another leak involved a pinhole/major rust on a new pipe and the pipe union of all things was rotting through. All of that on new fittings less than a year old.I’ve got a refrigerator that still works great and it’s almost 35 years old. Back in 1983 I bought my wife a large microwave to help her out during the day while I was at work. That microwave has been through a bunch and still works fine after all these years.
I wonder how many fridges and microwaves made today will ever make it to 15 years much less 30.The new Frigidaire fridge my daughter bought (12 month warranty) died with a compressor failure at 13 months. No help at all so off to the scrap yard with it.
The appliance store: “Yeah, we’re getting a lot of complaints. The compressors are going bad”. Chinese crap.[/quote] Music is also very bad now, but that’s another discussion. Japanese makes are no better than any other make in any case.[/quote]
I’m beginning to think that domestics have caught up to, and in some cases even exceed Japanese quality. My dealerships owner also owns a Chevy dealership that is right next door. If my dealership is slow they’ll throw a few cars our way, or if the chevy dealership is slammed we get the overflow and vise versa. The brother of my dealerships owner also owns a Ford dealership across the street, so often times we get Fords coming through as well if they are swamped or stumped on diagnosis (our lead tech is the man when it comes to diagnosis, he reminds me a bit of scannerdanner). We also get a lot of folks whose warranty has expired from the Honda dealership come through because we charge a cheaper rate than the local Honda dealership. We’re a Toyota dealership but we have a very diverse group of vehicles that come in. I’ve seen everything from WRX’s, Foresters, Legacy’s, to Mustangs, Fusions, and Focus’s, almost every make and model of GM, Hummers, various Acura, and Honda’s, and of course Lexus’s come through the dealership.Though the non-Toyota group of cars doesn’t come in as often as Toyota’s, they do come in frequently enough that I get a good enough feel from each brand. I’ve never seen a Honda or a domestic burn oil at such low mileages, i’ve never seen a new GM with the chronic injector failures that an FRS has (seriously I see these in the shop far too often), nor have I seen extremely low mileage oil leakage. Yeah, GM, and Ford have their problems, I feel like Ford’s, and GM’s are a little rougher around the edges than Toyota but I also don’t see as many issues with them. Another thing that I feel like I’m seeing too much of is leaky water pumps in Toyota’s… BUT I’m probably biased because I see far more Toyota’s on a day to day basis than other brands, so I get to see more of their issues.
I’m just astounded by the problems I’m seeing from fairly new cars. I knew they that Toyota’s weren’t indestructible like their owners proudly proclaim, but I expected much better than what I’m seeing from Toyota’s product. Again.. maybe it’s because I work with far more Toyota’s than any brand.
My Parents have a 2008 Scion Xb with around 90,000 miles, it goes through a quart of oil every 500-750 miles now… My 94 F-150 with the 300 I6, and 110,000 miles (fairly low mileage for a vehicle of that vintage but still enough to set an example) burns no oil at all and is my daily driver. I’d say the last of true American quality was in the late 60’s and early 70’s though. before California had all the emission controls added on. (luckily the I6 has been around since ’65 so the quality is similar to those days but emissions controls caused them to cease production in ’96)
[quote=”1994FordF-150″ post=126864]My Parents have a 2008 Scion Xb with around 90,000 miles, it goes through a quart of oil every 500-750 miles now… My 94 F-150 with the 300 I6, and 110,000 miles (fairly low mileage for a vehicle of that vintage but still enough to set an example) burns no oil at all and is my daily driver. I’d say the last of true American quality was in the late 60’s and early 70’s though. before California had all the emission controls added on. (luckily the I6 has been around since ’65 so the quality is similar to those days but emissions controls caused them to cease production in ’96)[/quote] The 300 I6 is bulletproof…this is coming from a GM guy but I give Ford credit where credit is due. You can expect many many many years out of that 300.
I suppose a Television set for a dash doesn’t make a difference when the car is burning enough oil to smoke the whole neighborhood. Buy a Chevy or Ford and skip the imported trash.
[quote=”andrewbutton442″ post=126871]I suppose a Television set for a dash doesn’t make a difference when the car is burning enough oil to smoke the whole neighborhood. Buy a Chevy or Ford and skip the imported trash.[/quote] I agree. What’s wrong with Mopar though? I get that they are now FCA but they still have American Heritage and Engineering. In any case I have never owned a foreign make myself. That includes tractors, chainsaws etc. The reason American manufacturing was driven away besides politics was the American consumer buying foreign made goods and condoning it. I talk about this all the time with people who argue that “well Toyotas and Hondas are made here” No they are not: the gross profits go back to Japan, not all the parts are made here, they have no American Heritage, and while they may hire American labor it is not out of the goodness of their hearts. The HQ, CEO, and board of directors are also all Japanese for the most part. I am for FAIR TRADE when it benefits both countries…not just one. If more people bought American exclusively, petitioned companies, boycotted foreign goods, we could bring manufacturing back…but I digress.
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