https://www.nytimes.com/2017/10/27/b...lection%2Fasia

I've lived in Japan and their standard of quality is much higher than North America, so take this article with a grain of salt. That said the public really detests when a manufacturer, in their eyes, deceives them.

 

That was an interesting read and I think your take on it is fairly accurate.

It does, however, further explain why actual Japanese vehicles are so sought after world wide. It would not surprise me if that final step wasn't just one of many things that differentiate the Japanese domestic market vehicles.

 

Quality to the Japanese is above all else. They take such pride in their work as a reflection of themselves and their country.

When the CEOs of Japanese companies are forced to admit error and bow this is a public acknowledgement that their company's and personal honour has been tarnished. They have disappointed not only the public, their company, fellow coworkers and themselves. This attitude I discovered even in a local grocery store in the middle of nowhere Japan.

I actually found this dedication to company not believable. Then when in Japan I was invited to a local family dinner and asked the father what was more important: his company or his family. He, without hesitation said his company, with a confirmation from his wife. This blew me away.

I contrast this with China, where I have spend much more time. The attitude there is "You caught us", followed by a shoulder shrug. Then life goes on.

 

My father in law, who should be showing up at my doorstep any minute, is retired from Honda. I can tell you that mentality partially spreads to their US based plants. Most people are lifers despite the plants being non-union. Most go to work and identify themselves as Honda workers.

Obviously, you can't take away the American mentality of God, Family, Country first, but you can add in company in the right work environment.

My understanding is that they have not been able to spread that idea to the Mexico based plant yet. Maybe never will.

 

I wouldn't at all take this lightly if I was a Japanese Automaker.

When I was growing up, and some of my adult life, 70. 80's...especially if you were looking at a small vehicle, The Japanese automakers were clearly and nearly unarguably superior.
Volkswagen also competed well.

But now? Times have changed. Across the board quality standards I think have taken away the advantage in perception the Japanese automaker use to enjoy.

Maybe because of my past, I still lean towards Honda, Toyota, Volkswagen, but I don't feel they are as dominating a "quality" choice as they once were.
As auto manufacturing has homogenized into a global action, with shared suppliers, and world wide manufacturing plants, I think the playing field is much, much more even.

I remember my parents buying a Toyota Corolla station wagon in the mid-70's. I remember the salesman, and a full color brochure that told about how committed to quality Toyota was, and how ANY member of the assembly line could stop the assembly line IF they saw something they thought was below standards or being done wrong.

That's a far cry from 2017, and hearing about fudged test results, sub-par inspections from some Japanese Automakers.

I bought another Honda. But I think if I was looking at another vehicle in the future? I would much more readily look at ALL options, foreign and domestic.
And with news like this breaking? I'm even more sure I would.

 

yah i'm not worried about subaru. they're more a naive company using their own quality methods that work, more like didn't know wat others were doing in 2017.

much better than TS certified junk some oem folks make repetitively. lol