frame problem is 95-2000 model toyotas, not 84's.

As for buying an american, union made vehicle, well no. Frontier comes out of TN as it is.

I cant vouch for dodge, havent really kept up on them. You were really lucky with the 84 toyota, are you sure the frame didnt rust through and break in half? almost all of them did. the true bummer is, you & your family might have had trouble with american built cars, but others have had none, or few, or whatever, the fact still remains that no perfect production car exists, and no one company corners the market in quality, we have no control over that. I respect your opinion, and I truly hope you give an american, union built vehicle another chance in the future, and have a good experience.

Lucky with the frontier? That truck replaced my 84 Toyota 4x4 went over 250K miles. Only major issue was replaced the clutch twice and a couple heater cores. Only got the dakota since I needed somethign that can pull 6500lbs and didnt want full size. Nissan nor toyotas small trucks could do that at the time. Now that they do, will be going back to Nissan.

Now my brother had 2 S-series trucks. 1 pickup, 1 s-blazer. Both were nothing but problems. Got a trailblazer and that barely made it to the warranty. Now he's trying Dodge with not much better luck.

you got lucky with the frontier. I do however have to agree with some of your choices, shadow, yikes, granada..well actually it was a very dependable car, but ugly as sin, and the top two.......citation, and the ever popular relient k, wow, what can a person say. GM however was making an attempt at a viable front wheel drive with the citation, but it failed miserably. but the omni/horizon was actually a pretty decent car, wide track, front wheel drive and fuel efficient.

well ctr1, I see more 80's era Hondas Accords, Civics and Toyotas camrys and celicas still on the road than you do Celebrity's, Chevettes, Grenadas, Omni's, Shadows, Citations, Reliants, etc. So what. Funny how my 92 Frontier went 200,000 miles without much more than routine maintanance but yet my 2000 Dakota is always in the shop. Right now its in for transmission problems AGAIN. I should add it litereally fell apart right after the warranty ran out at 36,000.

rockstars, so, from your past blogs, you've worked at GM, Chrysler, and LSI. All in management, and you still think engineers are union. I think you're just a wannabe that's confused about the union/management difference. Good luck finding a REAL job.

Rockstars, you are wrong on this one. There are no engineers that belong to the local union. There are many though that are subcontracted and actually work for another company. They may be paid hourly, but they are not members of the union.

petcat- interesting stats, heres a thought, how many of those hondas and toyotas older then 10 years are still on the road? Not many, and how many big three built vehicles are still on the road, I dont have facts, I just know what I see everyday, and thats that more big three built vehicles (older then 10 years) are still on the road than japanese.

woody, you are ignorant. The engineers at GM are NOT management. Again, I say, get a clue. And as for not working at Chrysler, not that it is any of your business, but I left them, not the other way around. Speaking of which, I also have friends (in engineering mind you) at the Janesville plant and I know what the hell I'm talking about. The same can't be said for you.

rockstars, I thought we were talking about GM here and as far as I know, all engineers at Janesville ARE MANAGEMENT. With a temper like yours no wonder you don't work for Chrysler any more. We sure don't need people like you to dictate who can blog here or not!

Did all these auto manufacturers put out the same number of cars, petcat?
Just wondering what the true ratios are.
And no, I'm not being a smarta..
Just wondering.

Thanks for the info Petcat. The thing I have noticed is that many companies not just the auto industry, don't like to have recalls put out by the media, rather by mailing letters to customers or waiting for the customer to call them. Then it's "Oh, sure bring it in and we will fix it for free." Like they are doing us a favor. Toyota balked at the engine sludge problem for years until lawsuits finally made them do a recall. Ford did't want to admit the engine fires caused by the anti lock brakes was a recallable issue util lawsuits forced their hand as well...jmo.

Car companies and alot of companies used to do recalls to maintain their reputation and keep customers out of integrity. Now they do them out of fear of lawsuits. My laptop recently quit working and when I called the company to get it fixed they said the new of the problem and it was a manufacturing issue. I had 26 days left on my warranty or I would have been left paying for the repair. Don't ask don't tell policiy in alot of cases.

Sheesh, how can anyone know who is responsible for the flaw after reading the six sentence article above? The problem occurs if there is a short circuit in the system. Why the short circuits occur isn't explained in the article. The design flaw could have originated with the supplier OR the GM Engineers. If it is a supplier problem, don't think that they won't be paying for this also.

Jeez, chill out MollyD. Nobody got "hostile" towards you.

jtmek:
That wiring harness was APPROVED FOR USE by GM. It's not like they didn't know what they were putting in their vehicles. Noone forced GM to use foreign made parts.

And this is why the reason the big 3 have failed making junk. when Toyoto/Honda and other foreign cars have been selling well .

I agree that Ford does not stand behind their products. We had a Ford Ranger truck that the paint starting chipping off right away. We went everywhere from the dealer to the main headquarters. Nobody cared or did a thing about it.
I kept sending paint chips in with our truck payment each month.
Will never buy a Ford again.

Hannah: If you don't think you/we are paying for recalls. Think again.

Of course this would happen. All that wiring harness is made and shipped from MEXICO! We can thank the Democrats for NAFTA.

woody, you're completely wrong. SENIOR engineers are management. To say all engineers are management is ignorant. I worked in management at Chrysler and can guarantee you that 98% of engineers are UNION. Get a clue, woody. If you don't know what you're talking about, please stop talking.

bennetonf1...you said "I'm sure it was a union engineer that SPECIFIED THAT THEY BE USED." It sure sounds like you want to blame everything on the hourly people. All engineers are management.

progressive/molly:
*
I'm sure it was a union engineer that SPECIFIED THAT THEY BE USED.

Oh, by the way, your windshield wipers may start on fire...

Thank you Hannah!!

If you look closely at these windshield washer fluid heating devices, you will find that each and every one of them was made in CHINA. No union no UAW just the cheapest in cost. Who do you want to blame now?

Reason it's heated is not because the fluid will freeze but because warm windshield fluid helps get ice off the windshield better than cold fluid does.

design flaw? sub-assembly flaw? final assembly flaw? Sure are glad that they are cutting back production....this will cost them some profit. One question that I don't understand...why would they need a heating unit is a windshield wiper fluid when most of what I see in the stores are made for below freezing temps? Might as well put wipers on the head lights...as this just seems like another option that is useless and just adds to mechanical / electrical problems.

So what do you do if you own one of these vehicles? Will they send you a letter?