Auto makers still making junk

According to the article it should be auto maker suppliers making junk.

The 1st. sentence in the article

First and foremost, said incorrectly manufactured parts were supplied by American Axle & Manufacturing and Questum Macimex.

We bought a Hyundai Elantra drove that for 10 years only replacement needed was the battery. My wife wanted a smaller car than the Elantra so we traded for a Chevy Spark. Worst car we ever had, under powered gas milage terrible. Thankfully in late 2023 we got a higher trade in than we paid for the chevy so & we got a really great price for 2024 Kia soul. Nice to be able to cruise with traffic at 75 mph with no strain on the engine. Gas milage better than the chevy & overall comfort is what we like.
 
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Nothing but plastic 4 wheeled tablets being made now. Just look at all the plastic on the street after even a minor low speed accident. I saw a guy barely side swipe a wooden pole and his car had to be carried away. My older model car was rear ended and I just had a scratch I buffed out. The new Malibu that hit me was ruined. Even the cops laughed .
 

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I had a couple of buddies that worked for Ford in 1980s, when the US car makers couldn't compete with Japanese cars in quality. They had a huge red button on the wall, and if anyone spotted any defect, they could press the button and stop the assembling line-at least that what the Ford TV ads said. Everybody knew that if you touched that button, you were fired. My pals would tell about a part that was supposed to have 6 bolts only had three. They said "Aaah, they'll catch it at the dealership"
I've had Hyundais for well over 20, and I've never had a mechanical problem. If I didn't crash into bear and deer, I'd still be driving them.
ford_bug_killers_1982.jpg
 
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Knight said:
According to the article it should be auto maker suppliers making junk.

The 1st. sentence in the article

First and foremost, said incorrectly manufactured parts were supplied by American Axle & Manufacturing and Questum Macimex.

We bought a Hyundai Elantra drove that for 10 years only replacement needed was the battery. My wife wanted a smaller car than the Elantra so we traded for a Chevy Spark. Worst car we ever had, under powered gas milage terrible. Thankfully in late 2023 we got a higher trade in than we paid for the chevy so & we got a really great price for 2024 Kia soul. Nice to be able to cruise with traffic at 75 mph with no strain on the engine. Gas milage better than the chevy & overall comfort is what we like.
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Yes suppliers, but, after all these years, and recalls. And some deaths. There should be a quality control department that checks every single part entering the building. Some robots could do it.
 
Oldeagle66 said:
Nothing but plastic 4 wheeled tablets being made now. Just look at all the plastic on the street after even a minor low speed accident. I saw a guy barely side swipe a wooden pole and his car had to be carried away. My older model car was rear ended and I just had a scratch I buffed out. The new Malibu that hit me was ruined. Even the cops laughed .
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I have put on my Jeep Wrangler, steel brush guard on the front, steel back bumper, and low end steel rock gliders on the sides. Damn back bumper started rusting before 12 months but the rust hasn't jumped to the vehicle. Most vehicles my size and smaller shouldn't damage much if they hit me, and no parking lot door dings from most cars. I have a small ding, probably a big truck door swing.
 
From other articles I've read today, it seems GM has reported over 28,000 related incidents tied to this issue.

Having worked in the automotive industry for over four decades -- 33 of those in Quality Assurance for a car manufacturer -- I think it's too simplistic to say automakers are "still making junk." What’s happening with GM’s L87 engine appears to be more a failure of supplier quality management and escalation procedures rather than corner-cutting. The fact that this issue traces back to 2021, yet a recall only followed a formal NHTSA investigation, raises concerns about how GM responded (or failed to respond) to rising field failures.

Where I work, we maintain strong links with both the dealer network and suppliers. When serious issues arise, we dispatch a small skilled team to support dealers with diagnosis and investigation, and then follow up with suppliers to develop their countermeasures and process improvements. This type of thing is usually written in contracts with our suppliers. This doesn't look like a case of poor product as much as one of poor response and weak supplier follow-up. It comes across more like a cultural issue within an organisation -- one that feels rooted in a past era. Many OEMs have moved on from that kind of thinking. I’ll be honest, it doesn’t inspire confidence in GM’s internal processes.

In an industry where a typical car has around 33,000 individual components, a car manufacturer has to work closely with its suppliers -- slowly pulling back as the relationship develops, and expectations are understood, and done in a way that fosters openness from the supplier. A kind of, "we are in this together", kind of attitude and culture. An “it isn't us, it's them” kind of attitude will never work in car manufacturing. An us and them attitude between a business and its suppliers only fosters defensiveness. Hardly ideal where the issue at hand could impact customer safety!
 
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MACKTEXAS said:
But in the 70's we had to get tune ups / spark plugs every few months; oil changes every 3000 miles. I don't want to go back to that.
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Exactly. And if you had 75000 miles on a car your engine probably needed to be rebuilt. My 16 year old Honda has 168,000 on it and runs like a swiss watch.
 
fuzzybuddy said:
I had a couple of buddies that worked for Ford in 1980s, when the US car makers couldn't compete with Japanese cars in quality. They had a huge red button on the wall, and if anyone spotted any defect, they could press the button and stop the assembling line-at least that what the Ford TV ads said. Everybody knew that if you touched that button, you were fired. My pals would tell about a part that was supposed to have 6 bolts only had three. They said "Aaah, they'll catch it at the dealership"
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FORD. FIX OR REPAIR DAILY.
 
Oldeagle66 said:
Nothing but plastic 4 wheeled tablets being made now. Just look at all the plastic on the street after even a minor low speed accident. I saw a guy barely side swipe a wooden pole and his car had to be carried away. My older model car was rear ended and I just had a scratch I buffed out. The new Malibu that hit me was ruined. Even the cops laughed .
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Really? I am shopping for a new Malibu. They have very good handling in traffic.
Cops laughing? That's cruel
 
fuzzybuddy said:
My pals would tell about a part that was supposed to have 6 bolts only had three. They said "Aaah, they'll catch it at the dealership"
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That oft quoted statement has its origins in GMs Norwood Assembly plant, where GM literally increased line speed over 60%, while laying off hundreds of workers. The result was some stations simply could not keep up, so shortcuts were made. GM screwed the worker and then blamed the worker for poor quality and used it as an excuse to shift production from Norwood. This was in retaliation for the 1972 strike, imo. This spread through the grapevine to smear all across the big 3 workers.
 

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