Thursday, February 4, 2010

OMFG, your car is gonna CRASH!!

Okay, the panic generated by this whole Toyota recall thing is getting to be a bit much. Yes, there's a problem with the accelerator module on several Toyota vehicles... here's the thing though; the problem rests entirely on the shoulders of the US manufacturing company CTS. The only vehicles that have the sticky pedal issue are ones that have an accelerator module made by CTS (in the United States). Toyota (and subsidiary) vehicles with the Japan-made module by Denso do not have this problem.

What am I saying here? I'm saying the US doesn't have a fucking clue how to manufacture goods. The US auto industry can't get their shit together to make a car last more than 100k miles (if it can even get to that point without massive repairs) the US auto industry is floundering, nobody can deny that.

However, when you have a situation like this, where the number one Japanese automaker has cars that will go all 'Christine' on your ass, suddenly, the garbage churned out by the big three don't seem as dangerous. Why? After all, wouldn't YOU rather have a car that simply breaks down every 10k miles (or maybe just doesn't start some mornings) or a car that can LITERALLY MURDER YOU BECAUSE OF A STICKY PEDAL? That's what I thought.

See, this is a fantastic time to convince people that Japanese cars are dangerous, buy American! The US auto industry needs a boost, and now it has it. It's a brilliant strategy. Unfortunately, people don't realize that the reason these 'murder machines' have sticky pedals is because they were made by the same people who make the trash coming out of Detroit (or in this case, Elkhart, IN). CTS is making the faulty product, NOT Toyota.

Vehicular politics aside, fact is, Toyota vehicles either made or assembled in the US using the American made CTS gas pedal assembly are using a substandard product. Cars using the superior Denso assembly are fine.

It's time to stop taking advantage of an unfortunate situation to bolster sales of American made cars. They're no better, in fact, who's to say that there aren't red blooded American Fords out there using products by CTS?

My Scion xB was manufactured and assembled in Japan and brought here on a boat. It's a true import. I know several people who have put 200,000+ miles on theirs without anything more than oil changes and new brake pads. That's Toyota quality, not Toyota design with guts made here...

I guess what I'm trying to say is, yes, if you have a car that falls under the scope of the recall, get it fixed, but don't panic. Don't sell your car and buy a Taurus, and most importantly, realize who is really responsible for the manufacture of the faulty units.

SIDE NOTE: My old 1995 Toyota Camry was an "evil Japanese car"... that was manufactured in Kentucky. The 2000 Chevy Impala that my sister drives is a "full-on GM piece of American awesomeness" and it was manufactured in Canada of all places.
Pull your "made in America" head out of your ass and realize that despite this issue, the reliability record of Toyota (and other Japanese automakers) blow the big three out of the water.

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