Do you think it matters WHERE your toyota was built?

[deebrown]

I recently read that Nissan's reliablity dipped in the last few years in part to many of their cars being built at a plant in Canton, Mississippi. Toyota will soon also be opening a plant in Mississippi - what do you think?

[hasher22]

Well i think its just in the head where quality comes with quanity...if that made any sense.....

people think that some china products are cheap and breaks down easily, whereas japan products are made from high quality material and will last longer......

but u never know with china or japan or england or australia or the u.s or where ever your product was made. If the country uses high quality material and does a fine job on assembling it, then i dont care where it was made just as long as its stable.

If Mississippi does a fine job on manufacturing the toyotas then no one would care where it was made....

[Black Yaris]

dood it is Nissan, they always have dips in reliability no matter where they are built
but on the topic... American BUILT cars do tend to be less reliable than those purely concieved in Japan

[hystria]

when Corolla was assembled in Japan it was better. Same for the Civic. Yaris is assembled in Japan and there are no problems... But it also depends on the quality of the parts used

[brickhardmeat]

I like Japan.

[yrsdrgn]

Originally Posted by hystria

when Corolla was assembled in Japan it was better. Same for the Civic. Yaris is assembled in Japan and there are no problems... But it also depends on the quality of the parts used

yup yup. personally i think it matters to me where my car was made. japan for me.

[foober]

Depends on the quality control. If your employees only care about getting thier paycheck and waiting for the weekend to spend it your going to have less quality. People have to put some care into what they do to have a good product.

[acrbill]

Final quality has little to do with the workers assembling the car. Workers do what they are told. Poor quality cars come from poor engineering not poor workmanship. If a worker did something wrong it would become immediately apparent not something that shows up months or years down the road.

[Black Yaris]

Originally Posted by foober

Depends on the quality control. If your employees only care about getting thier paycheck and waiting for the weekend to spend it your going to have less quality. People have to put some care into what they do to have a good product.

Good call... and thus the United States and its Labor Unions are to blame for poor quality products there

[acrbill]

Originally Posted by Black Yaris

Good call... and thus the United States and its Labor Unions are to blame for poor quality products there

Fuck you dipshit. You have no idea what labor unions have done for everyones quality of life. Shitty cars come from shitty planning and poor engineering.
I happen to be in a labor union. The quality I put out is well above my non union counter part.

I am not 100% behind everything the UAW does, but to say they are to blame for poor quality is ridiculous and statements like that really show how ignorant you are.

If you where to say that the UAW is partially responsible for profit loss I might be inclined to agree. Its time to make concessions in order to bring the big 3 back to profitability.

I really didn't want to be harsh but I know a few people who work at assembly plants and I know how things operate.

[Black Yaris]

Originally Posted by acrbill

Fuck you dipshit. You have no idea what labor unions have done for everyones quality of life. Shitty cars come from shitty planning and poor engineering.
I happen to be in a labor union. The quality I put out is well above my non union counter part.

I am not 100% behind everything the UAW does, but to say they are to blame for poor quality is ridiculous and statements like that really show how ignorant you are.

If you where to say that the UAW is partially responsible for profit loss I might be inclined to agree. Its time to make concessions in order to bring the big 3 back to profitability.

I really didn't want to be harsh but I know a few people who work at assembly plants and I know how things operate.

as a matter a fact I do know what labor unions do, every male in my family is in a Union. But A HUGH reason American made cars are so shitty is we have to pay union worker so much money to do shit, yes I said shit, I personally know many UAW workers who actually work about an hour in a 12 hour shift. Yes Unions drive wages up for union workers, but the products they build now have to be engineered down, or have to be made out of shittier mattierials for that company to make a profit, in turn hurts the end consumer, union and non-union alike

so 1)FUCK YOUand don't call me a dip shit
2)Maybe I do have an idea what labor unions have done for everyones quality of life
3)go eat humble pie fuckstick

[uncleyaris]

I think my last Ford was made on a Mon/ Fri, lol
comma guys relax!

[popeetheus]

No, it matters what company the car comes from, it matters what thier corporate culture is, it matters what thier quality track record is.

[spkrman]

Does this mean if I keep making boxes - then move to japan, my boxes will automatically last longer and go faster?

Will you guys then pay 3x as much for the same thing because its "jdm"?

YES it matters where its built, a GOOD plant, or a BAD plant - location itself, no.

[Pavel Olavich]

Originally Posted by acrbill

Fuck you dipshit. You have no idea what labor unions have done for everyones quality of life. Shitty cars come from shitty planning and poor engineering.
I happen to be in a labor union. The quality I put out is well above my non union counter part.

I am not 100% behind everything the UAW does, but to say they are to blame for poor quality is ridiculous and statements like that really show how ignorant you are.

If you where to say that the UAW is partially responsible for profit loss I might be inclined to agree. Its time to make concessions in order to bring the big 3 back to profitability.

I really didn't want to be harsh but I know a few people who work at assembly plants and I know how things operate.

ACRBILL, sorry fellow American, but the guy is right....the Unions have fucked the big 3 domestic auto makers...it is true...Unions are Socialism, and VERY anti American....a true American is not a union member, and it is the unions pensions that are forcing the big 3 to eat sheet....look at Ford....look at GMC,....look at Chysler....only idiots/low achievers work union...may they all go bankrupt and free the big 3 to truly compete against the Japanese...DEATH to UNIONS!!!!

[nsmitchell]

This might shed some light on the matter.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/W._Edwards_Deming

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Total_Quality_Management

Japan implemented TQM successfully, and USA did not. It is a major culture change that the USA is not willing to make. Japan makes higher quality goods as a result. I do not know any UAW folks, so - "no comment" on that. It does seem like the Big 3 is constantly at war with the UAW, so with all that going on it is hard to focus on quality cars. Honda USA and Toyota USA do not, as of yet, have UAW workers. Interesting?!

[acrbill]

Originally Posted by Pavel Olavich

ACRBILL, sorry fellow American, but the guy is right....the Unions have fucked the big 3 domestic auto makers...it is true...Unions are Socialism, and VERY anti American....a true American is not a union member, and it is the unions pensions that are forcing the big 3 to eat sheet....look at Ford....look at GMC,....look at Chysler....only idiots/low achievers work union...may they all go bankrupt and free the big 3 to truly compete against the Japanese...DEATH to UNIONS!!!!

I am not saying that the UAW isn't fucking the big 3. Like I said before, I know how things operate. There is an awful lot of standing around. One guy I am working with now was telling me that his sister worked at Belvedere assembly and her job was to put the fuel line on the Shelby Dodge Omni GLH-S. He said there was a max of 5 GLH-S cars per shift and it took her a few minutes per line to install. That means that she stood around for at least 7 hours per 8 hour shift.

The same guy was telling me how the assemblers had a quota per shift. Say they had to assemble 100 center consoles per shift. They would get done in 2 hours and sleep for 6. I asked why they didn't just keep working and he said that they would be doing the next shifts work.

Ever hear of a job bank? Back in the early 80's when GM was starting to automate the line they made a deal with the UAW that said that there would not be lost time because of the new machines. Basically that means that you still get paid even if they send you home for 6 months.

It goes way beyond even that. I will not refute that the UAW is ruining the big 3.

Saying its the workers fault that the cars are of poor quality is BS though. Beyond that, when you say the cars are poor quality what do you mean? I have owned all sorts of domestic cars and I have never had a major issue with any of them. My 1997 Ford Escort was built about 100x better than my Yaris IMO.

Another thing I don't understand is how someone can attack the UAW for the pension fund. To me that is just poor management of money on the white collar side. Give the Japanese automakers a few decades and they will be in the same predicament.

I generally try to distance myself (in respect to my work) from unions like the UAW.

Some say that unions had their place but now they are worthless. I am in a construction trade. I completed a 5 year apprenticeship where I was intensively trained in my craft. If you're a contractor would you rather have someone who is clueless work for you or would you rather have someone who knows what they are doing? I am not saying all non union guys are worthless but its a real crap shoot. Some people are under the impression that union guys are somehow protected from losing their job. That couldn't be more wrong. I am more at risk from losing my job than my non union counterpart. A non union contractor needs to hang onto poor workers because he has no idea if the next guy will be worse. If I make a mistake or if the job is slowing down for a few weeks they will send me down the road since they know that they can call the hall and get as many qualified guys as they need.

I can be let go if the foreman doesn't like the color of my shirt.

I have done several jobs where I was replacing shoddy work. Its stuff that costs the building owner thousands of dollars a year in wasted energy. Sometimes the installation and design is bad and sometimes the install is great but the design is crappy. The design has nothing to do with the worker directly, but someone who has a good understanding of how things are supposed to work will refuse to install something like that.

When work got slow last year I took a job in another trade. It was a learning experience to say the least. The work that was being done was down right unsafe in some instances.

Another thing people don't think about is what happens when union and non-union contractor bid on the same job. The bids are always very close. The difference is that the non union guys are getting paid far less and probably do not have insurance coverage. Where does that extra money go? Into the contractors pocket.

If all unions where dissolved tomorrow it would be like 1890 all over again.


I get harassed all the time at work about driving a Toyota. Blindly buying a car just because its American is retarded IMO. There needs to be some motivation for the big 3 to put some interesting new cars on the road.
The funny thing is that if I bought an Aveo they wouldn't say a peep even though its basically a rebadged Daewoo. They never said a word about my PT Cruiser that was built in Mexico and Chrysler is owned by the Germans.

Short synopsis:

1: Its not the UAW's fault that the big 3 put out boring crappy cars.
2: The UAW should make concessions to help bring the big 3 back to profitability.
3: While I am in a union it is a very different situation that the UAW
4: Buying American just because its American is not motivating the big 3 to build better stuff.
5: Black Yaris is still a dipshit..... J/K!


I understand what you meant, I just don't agree that they have to dial down the product to turn a profit. Thats a Bullshit way of doing business if that is the case.

I have a feeling that the UAW will ruin all unions across the land unless something is done very quickly.

[brickhardmeat]

I like Japan.