Oh for crying out loud, what a drama king. GM is taking a successful page out of Toyota’s playbook and again they are being crucified for it. Toyota has had several recalls in the past, after all, nothing is perfect. Actually as I recall they had more recalls than vehicles sold in a certain year. At least that’s the way I read it and I cannot find the article so, my apologies, I cannot provide hard and fast evidence. Toyota did the right thing, they corrected the problems before they became BIG problems, cudos to them.
GM on the other hand had a history of refusing to admit there was a problem until it WAS a big problem.
Now, with that said, GM is fixing it before it is a big problem, a page out of Toys book. Well I say they are doing the right thing.
Also consider this. Every body yammers and condemns GM for spending to much money. What is cheaper, recalling a couple of thousand cars or twenty thousand? GM is doing the right thing.
So GM has a recall and they are fixing it and that makes them junk.
Every make has recalls so apparently all cars are junk.
Anybody out there make anything before, wood, steel, etc? Was it perfect? If not it is junk.
How about a positive spin on it? GM was quick to find and correct a potential problem, not stated as one that actually happened although some hare brained but creative wordsmith described the problem as an engine compartment short in the posted article.
This may be interpreted as a smart marketing move, to find and repair a potential problem that has not actually resulted in dead batteries or smoking cars and in the process draw attention to a new model. Gearheads won’t mind a recognized and repaired potential problem and Nervous Nellies (thank you Spiro Agnew) won’t buy this car anyhow.
Many car companies put out their new cars before the actual calendar year has begun, especially with a new and exciting model.
MANY??? How about ALL!! I know of no company that DOESN’T. Usually the new models come out in September (4 months before the new year). But some even MUCH sooner. When I bought my 90 Pathfinder in 90…it was a model year 90…Nissan started selling them in January…In March of that year…Ford introduced the Explorer…It was a 91 model…2 months AFTER the new 90 4-door Pathfinder was introduced Ford introduces their new 91 Explorer.
What you guys don’t seem to understand is that when it comes to marketing and public relations, perception is reality. The average consumer doesn’t care if it is just a cable routing problem. All the average consumer will remember from this is that GM had to issue a safety recall on next year’s Camaro.
I understand this isn’t really that big of a deal from a mechanical standpoint. What you don’t seem to understand is that this incident undermines the efforts of GM’s marketing department, which translates to copious amounts of wasted dollars spent on marketing and advertising.
You might think I am a “drama king,” but I think you fail to understand the damage this does to GM’s reputation…and I would be saying the same thing if we were talking about one of Toyota’s 2010 models. Although I am not giving them one, maybe Toyota deserves to “get a pass.” They have done a better job of establishing and protecting the reputation of their brand.
This makes me wonder is there really is a benefit to labeling a car with the following year. It is like GM and Ford believe we will think we are getting a better vehicle because it is next year’s model. Does it really fool anybody?
The reason for the car model years was…that back in the 20’s and 30’s the year you bought a car was the year it was called. A Model-A Ford could have sat in the dealership for 3 years since 1930…you buy it in 33…and it’s a 33 Model-A. At least the registration has the year is was manufactured on it.
I’m on the ‘give me a break!’ side. Minor recall about a minor issue with no implication about future reliability. Unfortunate? Yes. Big issue? No way. GM’s got way bigger problems (banruptcy, don’t ya think?) than this.
You are absolutely right. The media gurus employed by Toyota who are in charge of their advertising have done a good job…but marketing has to do with a lot more than just advertising and press releases. Marketing is involved with product development, deciding which products best fit each market, researching which features are in demand, and finding the appropriate prices for their products. If GM did these things as well as Toyota, they would be in much better shape than they are now.
If only the news media carried more flattering news stories about GM. Oh, wait! They already do, at least based on what I have seen on the local news. News4Jacksonville, First Coast News, and the Florida Times-Union frequently run stories flattering local GM, Ford, and Chrysler dealerships and the newest models…and blaming the media has worked so well for the GOP, is GM now adopting the same tactic? Will they duplicate the GOP’s success with that tactic?
It’s kind of funny. GM seems to do a better job of marketing overseas than in the US, while Honda and Toyota seem to do a better job of marketing in the US and worse overseas. Do you think maybe the marketing executives at Honda and Toyota understand Americans better than American companies?
In the end, the sales trends speak for themselves, and my opinion is that this only exacerbates GM’s image problem. If you don’t agree with my opinion, that is fine. If GM reverses its sales trends here in the US, I will be happy to be wrong.
The Camaro is for real, like Juan Valdez of the Colombian Coffee ads. They are built in Oshawa, Canada, one of GM’s best plants for assembly quality. However that does nothing for design quality. Agree that the car is about 4-5 years too late. The Obama administration will likey kill it with their fuel mileage standards.
Although you can’t judge a car by the number of recalls, I compard the Ford Taurus in the late 90s with the Lexus. The Taurus had 152 dealer bulletins and several recalls, while the Lexus had 4, and no recalls.
The Ford Focus set a world record with recalls and service bulletins. Throwing a car onto the market (without rigorous testing) and using the customer as a guinea pig is still the modus operandi with some Detroit car divisions.
Next year Ford will introduce the Mexico-built Fiesta to the US market. European and Mexican quality will not cut it with American and Canadian buyers. We’ll see if Ford has learned to target North American and Japanese quality benchmarks in small cars. Previous Euro-designed small Fords have been pathetic; the old Fiesta, the Cortina, the Capri, Consul, Zephyr, Anglia, Prefect, etc.
Mike, a friend of my son joined GM after graduating from college. He quit at the time GM was experiencing the infamous peeling paint problems, and categorically refused to help most of their buyers. The chap was in the service/warranty department, and could not stomach going to work in the morning.
He has sworn off all GM proucts and proudly rallies with a Subaru WRX.
Amazing still that no one will bash the Asians for chronic problems. It’s unlikely the rosy tint could be much darker on the glasses. Mike makes the comment about the Asians taking care of business and not burying their head in the sand so respond to this.
This is why it took a class action suit for Toyota to recall ball joints?]
This is why the EPA went after Honda for modifying cars so the CEL would not come on?
This is why the CEO of Mitsubishi was arrested?
This is why Subaru (one of the biggest offenders of all) covered up a steering rack pinion spring problem?
This is why Nissan failed to properly tighten some mainshaft nuts in their manual transmissions, which then led to vehicles locking in place when they were backed out of a parking spot? And why Nissan did not cover things like this even if it was a day out of warranty?
So I ask. Pick any or all the above, apply it to a GM, Ford, or Chrysler vehicle and your response would be…?
That’s not even scratching the surface of this kind of stuff. Those who think otherwise should do this.
Go get a real job in the service dept. at a Honda/Toyota/Subaru/whatever dealer.
Spend about 10 years there and post back with your findings.
“If I’d had safety or reliability problems with my Toyotas I’d try another make. The whole reason I tried Toyota in the first place was because of the numerous serious problems my GM had”
Ahem… Toyota engine sludging… cough*
I agree—all cars have problems and all manufacturers have recalls. What really builds bad faith is when the manufacturers ignore the problem until enough people have suffered and then try to weasel out of fixing it. GM intake gaskets. Toyota (and Chrysler 2.7L) engine sludging, early Chrysler trannys, Subaru head gaskets, Ford ignition switches and the Firestone/Explorer fiasco. At least GM caught a potential problem early and straightened it out. With lean manufacturing (and engineering these days) it’s hard to catch EVERY problem before a product goes out the door.
I am willing to bash the Asian car companies as well for their transgressions. Let’s all join in collectively pointing our fingers and scolding Toyota, Honda, Mitsubshi, Subaru, and Nissan so that we can stop being accused of being partial and get back to the original topic, which is GM’s recall.
This reminds me of a time I got caught with my hand in the cookie jar and didn’t get punished because I was able to tattle on my older brother and successfully deflect my mother’s attention.
Of course not. I’ve been asking this question for several decades with no results. No reason to expect anything different now and no doubt I’ll ask this same thing again in the future.
There was a problem that developed and GM caught it. Case closed. Happens with many car makes and GM is not immune nor are they alone.
The only reason I mention the other makes is because if one is going to bash GM for this very minor problem then let’s not forget the other makes before they too go up in flames or the wheels fall off.
Just about every car that has ever been made goes through production line changes.
Note that sometimes when inquiring about a part the dealer may ask for a VIN number, engine or transmission serial number, etc. The purpose of that is for the above reason.
Same goes for Recalls that cover a certain range of VIN numbers.