A lot of diagnostic information is already available through the sensor package required for variable timing systems needed for enhanced power and gas mileage while providing reduced emissions. They are just taking advantage of data that is already available. It seems to me that GM started doing this to enhance the value of OnStar. But that is the capitalist way, and they should not be faulted for their motives in this case.
It’s amazing the people who praise GM’s quality…when GM themselves say their quality isn’t that good and thus we need a complete culture change to compete.
I think the new head of GM is very qualified and is heading them in the right direction…but the company is huge and she can’t micromanage it. It’ll take years for things to change…and there will be a lot of resistance from the old guard who hate change.
I don’t know much about business organizations, but at educational institutions a new CEO is more effective if the CEO quietly makes evolutionary changes rather than starting a revolution. The state university from which I retired 4 years ago hired a new president last summer. Without fanfare, he replaced two vice presidents and several other high level administrators. There has been quite a change over the past year, but it has happened so discreetly that one has to look back over the past year to realize how much forward progress has been made. When I saw this year’s list of retirees, I suspect there will be even more progress next year. Perhaps Mary Barra is doing the same thing at GM.
I don't know much about business organizations, but at educational institutions a new CEO is more effective if the CEO quietly makes evolutionary changes rather than starting a revolution.
The biggest school in the world probably has less then 10% of the employees of GM. I don’t equate a State School or any non-profit schools to be run anything like a corporation like GM.
The first time Buick had a better reliability rating than Lexus, the head of Buick quality control was asked what she thought about it. She said their quality was good, but not good enough. Toyota and Honda have the same opinion of their quality too. It has often been said that not moving forward is moving backward because many (all?) other manufacturers are aiming to get better.
Toyota and Honda have the same opinion of their quality too. It has often been said that not moving forward is moving backward because many (all?) other manufacturers are aiming to get better.
And that’s he way it should be. Ask the CEO of GM 10 years ago and you got a completely different answer…they thought there was nothing with the company or their quality. They had no desire to change.
I think this article might tell you much about prioities. A Toyota head, one of the lowest paid might make 1.9 million which is a lot of money, but does that make him less valuable then Ford’s at over 20 million ? When a car company spreads the wealth and more importantly, the responsibility throughout it’s business instead of micro managing on high, they may be more successful. Toyota literally, “hands over” the responsibility of vehicle developement to those on the ground with the most to gain by it’s success. Case in point.
The new Tacoma ( as was the older one) is completly engineered, developed and manufacture by those who live and work and enjoy off road endevors in the USA for sImilar minded USA customers. Decisions aren’t made by Toyota’s head so much as setting General guildlines. There are two sides to this. If the truck fails, he doesn’t take all the blame. If the truck succeeds, he doesn’t take all the credit either. That’s job security for everyone and more often then not, a better product.
The guys with the greatest input are the same guys who will be naturally driving these cars; usually “truck nuts” themselves instead of Iococca types though brilliant in their own right, who had less concern for long term reliability them short term success. When a guy helps design a truck you can bounce off rocks for 200k, you might not get something that makes CR happy but you do end up selling a lot of them in class to fellow performance nuts.
The new Tacoma when it comes out, “may” not handle or even drive as well as the Colorado perhaps. It will be more reliable, perform better off road, last longer and will still be down graded by CR compared to other trucks. .But, they will continue to out sell the Colorado by a significant margin.
I get 2 things out of this . . .
Toyota’s ceo is way underpaid
Ford’s ceo is way overpaid
Maybe the Toyota head is paid “appropriately”.
“It’s amazing the people who praise GM’s quality…when GM themselves say their quality isn’t that good and thus we need a complete culture change to compete.”
I would hazard a guess that most people who say this drive Ford or Chrysler products. GM is far from perfect but so is Ford and Chrysler.
Let us not forget though that Toyota had their own problems with frame rot, brakes, acceleration, etc., and Ford with their own problems including the wheel well rot. Not to let any of the other companies off the hook either, but rusting to the point of junking a vehicle within five years is a much more serious issue to me than mere mechanical failures.
At any rate I think maybe the terms “reliability” and “quality” might mean different things today than in the past. Drive trains seem to be pretty dependable regardless of company. Fit and finish, interior designs and comfort, electronics, cockpit controls, and so on might be the areas generating the issues now. Of course now every time you come up with a new design, you have a whole host of new issues that may need to be resolved that are unforeseen. If you don’t change anything, you can continue to improve the parts and product, but once you make a major change, you start over again.
I remember the days when Japanese was junk but once TQM was adopted, things improved. But TQM requires studying the the process for the same part down to the minute detail to drive out problems or redesigning out the part. But again once you come up with a new design, you start the whole process over again. To reduce errors, you reduce changes. Just IMHO anyway.
LOL, Bing, I had a wife once…
'nuff on that subject…
There is no perfect car nor will there be. Each car has a nitch. It might be advanced technology of Euro models and Ford or reliability as in Honda and Toyota. Each manufacturer tries to carve out a nitch to insure they will continue sales to a certain segment, year after year.
Toyota is not interested in building the most reliable car it possibly can, and neither is Ford or GM. They are interested in profit. Toyota will sacrifice some technology to help insure reliability in order to build vehicles that are prcieved to be more reliable. That is their nitch. Their loyal buyers year after year need to be satisfied they are getting a reliable product and will accept lower levels of technology to that end. CR continues to remind us that cars with more advanced technology tend to be less reliable and always argues in favor of waiting out new model years.
Toyota never or seldom actually makes a new car that does not have technology tested by others or in their own line. The so called advanced 3.5 Tacoma motor due out comes directly from the Lexus line; a motor that has been out for several years. This is typical of how they work with vehicles " known " for reliability. Don’t put much new in them that hasn’t been field tested by others or other lines.
“Toyota never or seldom actually makes a new car that does not have technology tested by others”
When the LS400 launched for the 1990 model year, its multi link rear suspension setup was BLATANTLY copied from Mercedes-Benz, who had introduced it on the 190E, some years earlier
The bigger signal is the reduction in the warranty period! That was one of her first big decisions.
Last 3 cars I’ve purchased were all GM vehicles.
The most recent is a '11 Cruze. I really like this car. The styling is (IMHO) good, the fit and finish are good, and at 118,250 miles, zero, zilch, nada problems. (Hope I haven’t jinxed myself there.) Handling is great. If GM keeps improving on that, they should do just fine.
The Cruze was designed by a combined German (Opel) and Korean team and is really an Opel. Glad to hear you are happy with it. This car is built in 4 countries; Germany, Korea, Mexico and the US.
Assembled in Lordestown Ohio. Says so right on the sticker!! 
I looked at the Cruz and it is very very similar to the Pontiac G6.
Not the same car though. The G6 shared the Epsilon platform along with the Malibu, one size up.