While some might argue that foreign car quality over American is more an issue of perception than reality, the fact is that perception is reality in the eyes of a customer. Cars are expensive and they are the second most expensive item a consumer will buy. Even in the best of circumstances, it costs about $50,000 every five years to own and maintain one. With few exceptions, I've bought "American" for the past twenty-three years of my driving career. With even fewer exceptions, every one of those has had reliablity problems. Ironically, the ones with the most issues were less than three years old and had less then 50,000 miles on them.
Our 1996 Escort was brand-new with 14 miles on the odometer and within 34,000 miles, the steering rack failed. Then the car started to shudder violently during acceleration. The dealer told us the motor mounts were bad and since the car was out of factory warranty and the extended warranty wouldn't cover it, we would have to pay for them ourselves. As a result and at considerable expense, I replaced the mounts, but the car still shuddered violently until we took it to another dealer. They told us we needed a new transmission, if the first dealer has just performed a five minute adjustment, it would have saved Ford a $2000 bill.
Fast forward to 2002, we bought a 2000 Ford Windstar with 32,000 miles. Despite the recall for a body sealer problem, the dealer told us not to drive through an automatic car wash. For nearly four years, we lived with water leaking in the van until it caught fire and was subsequenlty totaled. We owed $12,000 and the insurance company paid $7,000. We were livid with Ford, with this and several other engineered in defects on an otherwise great van. Six months before the van was totaled out by the insurance company, we bought a 2003 Dodge Intrepid with 42,000 miles on it. At 47,000 miles, 100 miles from home, the engine oil light came on. $6,000 later, the engine was replaced. In the four years and 33,000 miles we've had it, the steering rack has failed twice, the tie rods, ball joints, air-conditioning evaporator, cooling fans, water outlet, overflow tank, and transmission cooler have failed. In addition, the paint on the steering wheel has all but peeled off and a replacement for that is over $300.
To replace the burnt out van, we purchased a 2004 Pontiac Grand Am. This car has been more reliable, but not trouble-free. We've had to replace a window regulator, wheel bearing hub, tie rod and washer pump. The strut mounts failed the day we bought the car with 16,000 miles on it. The other parts failed at less than 46,000 miles. These will be the last American cars we purchase, new or used. We are buying Asian-made as soon as the payment books are done. While we don't want to put our neighbors out of work, (as we live in the area that built the Grand Am) it is the management that has already done that. By settling for poor quality and service, the big three have already sealed their fate in our eyes. Since I am already out of work, it is a slap in the face to be saddled with a product I'm still making payments on that needed thousands of dollars of service and parts over the last two months.
These neighbors should have cared about the product they were designing, building and servicing if they wanted to keep their paychecks. While this may sound harsh, everyone else is at least held accountable for what they do while on the job. American automakers should not be held to a differing standard because they are "American." If these firms want to compete, then they should compete and convince us as the buying public that their product provides value with more than empty rhetoric. The Japanese have already done this with quality and reliabiltiy, while the Europeans have with safety and style. Trouble is that where there were opinions twenty or thirty years ago, there are now biases. This is how long the big three have had to clean up their act. Biases are much harder to overcome than opinions.
When a company builds cars with known safety and reliability defects, all the while lying about it, they shouldn't be in business. The crossovers built in Lansing now have a horrible reliablity record and no one can figure out why sales are half of what they were last year. They chalk it up to the economy, while it's really poor customer service. My Dodge is going to be the first one to go.