Why Honda and Toyota Are Slipping
Instead of taking advantage of U.S. automakers' woes in the past few years, the Japanese automakers let themselves slide.
Formerly the Teflon Dons of the auto industry, Honda and Toyota dominated in innovation, quality and profits for the past 20 years. And when Detroit went into distress in 2008, it would have been reasonable to expect them to take advantage of things such as General Motors' downsizing to four brands from eight. But they didn't. And now Toyota's share of the U.S. market has dropped by nearly 3 percent since 2009, and Honda's by almost 2 percent.
You own a Nissan so apparently you are just as anti American as the rest of us! Hypocrite.
Nice try, but I don't go around bashing America or American companies like you, Troy S. and Just_Great, do I? I'm far more open-minded about which brand of vehicle to buy than you by a long shot. That hardly makes me hypocritical. I have no problem with Nissan, mine have been 100% reliable and have never been recalled. Can't say that about your soccer mom-mobile Highlander, can you? My Mazdas were great cars, too. I have no problem buying a Japanese or European car, and have. Sorry, but my Lexus was THE WORST car I ever owned by far. It had more things go wrong with it than groups of all my other vehicles combined. A complete disaster. So, Toyota products got scratched off list, and based on their ongoing decline, I doubt they'll be back on my "buy" list anytime soon.
NO ONE touches on the subject more than you Beltway. You are like a parrot repeating the same thing over and over. recall.....recall....recall....squaaak, Beltway want a cracker?
I am over, and so is most everyone else, this ridiculous, childish arguing over who has more recalls or who's market share is suffering.
That's really funny, frostyross/carpuff! No one writes more repetitive volumes putting down American cars and defending Toyota than you. If any poster DARES to say Toyotas are really crap, you immediately come out to defend Toyota, then smear and try to discredit the other posters, and rage on and on and on about recalls, reliability, Consumer Reports, J D Power, etc. You're nothing but a child that is so easily baited. Your responses are SO predictable. And how many times have you said you weren't going to respond any longer???? Yet once the bait is set, you bite every time. It's like when I call my dogs for dinner, no matter where they are or what they're doing they come a runnin'. I can make you jump every time. It's really quite entertaining! All I have to say is something negative about Toyota and you're here in a flash.
I am over, and so is most everyone else, this ridiculous, childish arguing over who has more recalls or who's market share is suffering. Reliability is still way more important than recalls and Toyota is still tops in that category according to every single professional that writes articles about cars.
So buying the most reliable cars makes me anti American huh? You're a boob if you truly believe that garbage. You own a Nissan so apparently you are just as anti American as the rest of us! Hypocrite.
I actually don't think anyone except Beltway is worried about market share and recalls.
Really? You're joking, right? Then why do you, Troy S., and Just_Great keep bringing the subject up when you're all bashing American companies over and over and over and over and over again? If recalls are okay, then why bring it up constantly when shoving your anti-American sentiment down people's throats? You've rambled on for months about recalls from GM and Ford versus your precious Toyota. There are dozens, maybe even hundreds of posts from you on this blog where all you do is bash American car companies. You've currently have 399 posts under the "frostyross" name, and I bet 397 of them bash American companies. And then there's all those posts of yours under the "carbuff346" name that follow the same trend.
You're delusional if you don't think it matters to you people, otherwise why do you three keep it up? Just read the last paragraph in your post below for proof. Classic frostyross/carpuff. You just can't help yourself.
I can think of at least six different times I have had to wait for a tow truck to pick up my American made car but it has never happened to one of my Toyotas. Recall? gladly.
@ thebeltway, do some research! the biggest recall in the auto world was from an american brand,
@Ismail Khan, do some research yourself. Toyota has recalled more cars in the lat 3, 5 and 10 years than ANY other vehicle manufacturer on earth. Do you think people are worried about recalls from more than 10 or 20 or 30 years ago? Or do you think they're more worried about a manufacturers CURRENT recall record? Toyota tops the list for the most recent recalls. Period. And it doesn't look like they're slowing down the pace of recalls either. They used to build a good car, but all they've built in the last decade has been unsafe, mediocre junk. Toyota should just give customers the first two recall notices for their car at the time of delivery. That will at least save them the cost of postage later.
Does anyone else see a trend with Japanese automakers? First there were over 1,000,000 Hondas recalled for power window switch fire problem. Then 167,000 Acuras were recalled for deteriorating power steering hoses that could cause a fire. Then Honda had to recall the CR-V for fire risk from leaking oil. No wonder Honda is being sued for concealing fire risks in their vehicles. But it doesn't end there for Honda and Acura. Here's some other recent recalls:
- 554,000 vehicles recalled for defective wiring.
- Civics recalled for cracks in the fuel tank.
- CR-Vs recalled for weak welds in suspension parts.
- 273,000 Hondas recalled for deadly airbag problem.
- 2.5 million Hondas and Acuras recalled for transmission problems
- 410,000 Honda Odysseys and Elements recalled for brake problems.
If Hondas are missing quality parts like this, one has to wonder what else is missing.
And who can forget Toyota? Over 10 million vehicles recalled for unintended acceleration. Plus:
- 830,000 Toyota RAV-4s and Camrys recalled for power window switches causing fires.
- 82,000 Toyota Yaris recalled for fire risk from power window switches.
- Lexus models recalled for leaking fuel problem that can lead to fire.
- Tundra pickups recalled for improperly calibrated tire pressure monitoring sensors.
- 681,000 Toyotas recalled for electrical problems and airbag failures.
- 550,000 recalled for defective crankshaft pulley
- 870,000 Sienna minivans recalled for spare tire cable corrosion.
- Over a million Tacoma and Tundra pickup trucks recalled for frame rust.
With declining safety records like that, it's no wonder Toyota and Honda are losing customers to competition.
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