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Rob @ Mar 7th 2008 4:03PM
This definitely shows a difference in corporate culture between Toyota and GM. GM's attitude is to ignore the problem and hope it will go away. They hope the customer will sell the car before it becomes an issue. Their 3.8 V6 engines (otherwise great engines) produced between 1996 and 2003 had serious problems with the upper intake manifold that would lead to catastrophic failure when it would rupture and send coolant into the cylinders thereby hydro-locking it. Instead of issuing a recall or even fixing it after the first year or two when it became apparent, they kept producing them like that for eight years.
Another example is the fiasco they had with paint peeling in the late nineties. I personally have been touched by this one. It’s no wonder there are so many bitter ex-customers out there…
Ken @ Mar 7th 2008 4:25PM
They repainted our truck under warranty, couldn't ask for anything better.
AlexP @ Mar 7th 2008 4:13PM
You mean on the U-Body vans? Yeah.
God damn, GM's changed so much.
Anyway, it's somewhat hard for a regular corporation like GM to compete (on the 'care' and such side of things, I mean the objective of GM is rewarding its investors(AKA owners)) with Toyota (owned by a family and primarily run by the same family that owns the corp., where a consensus is much easier).
Rob @ Mar 7th 2008 4:28PM
Yeah, in corporate America, everything is for the short term - next quarter's earnings report. There's no thought for the future. That explains (at least partially) them going from 50 percent market share down to about 25.
K Prasad @ Mar 7th 2008 4:41PM
to alexp: toyota is public company and very little of it is still owned by the toyoda family.
AlexP @ Mar 7th 2008 4:51PM
I know it's public, but I was under the impression that the major shareholders have been, well, family and friends for some time.
stratojet @ Mar 7th 2008 5:20PM
The 3.8 l was the best engine ever as far as reliability goes. You are misinformed on this one.
The paint situation was due to a supplier who pretended that his paint could be apllied without primer. Ford, GM, Chrysler were all affected. GM repainted the vehicles no charge in most cases.
Rob @ Mar 7th 2008 5:01PM
For more info on the GM 3.8 V6 Upper Intake Manifold issue, go to:
http://www.bonnevilleclub.com/forum/kb.php?mode=article&k=38
PAT @ Mar 7th 2008 5:03PM
Toyota's "corporate culture"? This says nothing to their culture, they are just feeling the pressure from the decreasing reliability ratings, and with a minimal financial loss, they fool uneducated people into thinking they are taking the intiative, oh wait they made those trucks 10 years ago!