After 20 yrs. must say,BYE, BYE to Chrysler

When GM hired a former Toyota quality expert, the first thing he told them was to design components to last 100k miles instead of the warranty duration. (You think?) So although cars are now "world" cars, until GM and the other American automakers follow the 100k advice, bread and butter components will still last longer on Japanese cars.

When I was engineering manager at a supplier of some fuel pump components up to 6 years ago, the design life goal was in fact 100k+.

Bill Putney (To reply by e-mail, replace the last letter of the alphabet in my address with the letter 'x')

Were they made for GM? The specific story I read was about GM. And it could have been more than 6 years ago since they hired the Toyota quality guy. As you get older, time flies. Everytime I turn around I'm eating breakfast.

Yes - sorry for not saying that - those were parts we jointly designed with Delphi, then manufactured and sold to Delphi for use in GM cars.

Bill Putney (To reply by e-mail, replace the last letter of the alphabet in my address with the letter 'x')

You have two amp circuits in your house? I think all mine are 15 amp (10 maybe? I'd have to go outside and check, and it's not worth it for this discussion). Oh, you mean you're only running 2 amps on the circuit at the moment... I'd really rather have all the components in my house wiring rated for at least as much current as the breaker outside, so if I've got a short I don't burn out a light switch. That isn't over-engineering at all.

Of course. You say it like a 100K design life is supposed to mean a

1M design life. It isn't; a 100K design life is supposed to mean a 100K design life.

All I can say with certainty is my own experience. Out of the 13 new vehicles that I have purchased in my life, there was one Nissan and one Honda. Also out of the 13, those were the two that had the most failures. I admit to being harsh on vehicles, I love to drive them hard. However, I only use the BEST maintenance products and am insane about doing maintenance regularly.

The Honda had 4 yup FOUR transmission redos in 40,000 miles. The cheesy "girlieman" synchronizers could not withstand my abuse. At

30,000 miles the engine started using oil. It had to go "Bye-Bye"!

The Nissan's clutch started slipping at about 25,000 miles. The seat upholstery and the carpet were showing serioius signs of wear at

40,000 miles. It also had to go "Bye-Bye"!

My girlfriend owned one of those "almighty toyotas", a camry when we met. It was only a year or so old with around 20,000 miles.

The first time I drove it, I asked her what the "clunking sound" coming from the front was? "What clunking sound?" was her response. After a trip to the toyota dealer, we returned with new STRUTS and STRUT BEARINGS. It seems "they all do it" was the excuse given by the Service Manager, but we don't change them unless the customer "complains"!

The next trip was for the "Anti-Theft" system. It would not allow you to REMOVE the ignition key from the switch. They had to change the ENTIRE system including the door and trunk locks. I saw the dealer warranty sheet and the parts alone cost almost $700.00.

After the "lock changing festival" we discovered they had broken one of the inner door panels during the process. Well, it took TWO trys for them to order the correct part and get that taken care of.

Those Toyotas are really something to be admired!!

By the way, my 1995 Jeep Cherokee 4x4 that I purchased new has 240,000 miles and is the best vehicle I have ever owned.

Good luck, Bruce