THE CAR COACH REPORTS: WEEK IN REVIEW
NEVER YELL FIRE IN A CROWDED HONDA EDITION
It’s been a dismal week for the #2 Japanese automaker. Hundreds of thousands of Honda Pilots, Civics and Accords are being recalled and/or investigated for potential fire hazards related to headlight wiring issues: http://wheels.blogs.nytimes.com/2012/10/05/recall-of-820000-pilots-and-civics-caps-a-rough-week-for-honda/
To this I have to ask: What the heck is going on with the quality of cars these days? It seems no automaker is immune to a huge barrage of recent recalls, much more so than at any other time in automotive history.
Did the Toyota debacle from a few years ago cause the feds to go into panic mode and investigate every little issue and turn molehills into mountains or are today’s cars really this faulty?
Could you imagine if the feds investigated cars from the ‘70s and ‘80s with this much scrutiny? I’m willing to bet every car made in that era would have been recalled for a slew of safety and quality issues.
Or were cars simpler and easier to build back then? Perhaps they weren’t so sophisticated and didn’t cause so many issues as a result. Either way, modern automotive manufacturers need to get their acts together.
How much confidence does it instill in the consumer to buy a new car only to worry that it could catch fire or breakdown on a busy highway? You’re almost better off buying used, since a pre-owned vehicle will likely have had the bugs worked out of it.
And it’s not just Honda this week—Ford is also being investigated: http://www.thedetroitbureau.com/2012/10/safety-investigators-probing-over-2-mil-honda-ford-vehicles/
Nissan had a recall: http://news.pickuptrucks.com/2012/10/recall-alert-2012-nissan-frontier.html
Hyundai Velosters have shattering sunroofs: http://www.foxnews.com/leisure/2012/10/05/feds-probe-shattering-sunroofs-on-hyundai-veloster/
Yugos have faulty transmissions: Just kidding!
But seriously, who’s setting the benchmark for automotive quality these days? It must be Mazda—I haven’t heard of any recalls from them lately.
What do you think?
Post your comments at http://laurenfix.blogspot.com/
My Final Thought:
Please watch this video: http://www.autoblog.com/2012/10/02/surveillance-camera-shows-mercedes-driver-parking-fail/
It should be a PSA on always remembering to put your car in park and to use the emergency brake if on a hill.
Love your car! See you next week!
--Lauren Fix
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