A FWD Japanese BMW.

 

Funny how when the same car is made here and over there, the quality rankings of the car made here are better.

DA

 

LOL. I dunno about great engines. They only one they really have is the VQ35 that is literally used in every car they have. And that too maybe powerful...but it's not that stellar. Remember the massive recall it had a year ago across a broad range of cars? What a joke.

 

Ummmm...what?

 

Yeah, I wish something can be provided to back that up.

 

To settle this debate quickly.....there is really no set pattern for this. Some companies have plants here that produce vehicles just as well...or better....than in their home country. Examples are the Toyota Georgetown, KY plant, the Honda Marysville, OH plant, the Ford / Mazda Flat Rock, MI plant, and the Nissan plant at Smyrna, TN.
Examples of the opposite ( U.S. plants that turn out poorer quality) are the Nissan plant at Canton, MS, the Mercedes plant at Tuscaloosa, AL, and the BMW Spartanburg, SC plant.

 

Thanks Mmarshall, My exact point. Accords made here (when Accords were made in Japan and the US) ranked higher in quality when assembled here vs. Japan. It really doesn't make a difference where cars are made, it is the engineering and parts that create the car. I wonder how IWantaNewLexus will feel when his car is made in Indiana in 2006.

Of note, the plants you point out, do not have a competing plant overseas - they are the only plant that produces those cars... I think.

 

Yes, there are overseas plants that produce just about all these models, because many of these models sold overseas are not built to U.S. standards. Most of the vehicles sold overseas....especially right-hand drive models for Japan, Britain, and Australia.....are actually built overseas. Body styles, bumper, safety, and emission standards are often different overseas as well.
The American plants operated here by foreign manufacturers exist for two basic reasons......one, to get around import quotas and tariffs, and two, to satisfy domestic demand for their products......which for some cars like the Camry and Accord and run into as many as half a million a year.

 

http://forums.freshalloy.com/ubbthre...b=5&o=&fpart=1

Infiniti bought back my QX56 - gesture of goodwill
#67810210 - 08/10/04 01:16 AM Edit Reply Quote



Infiniti made a gesture of goodwill by buying my QX56 back to avoid litigation. Let me start out by saying, I did not have any problem with the dealership that I purchased the vehichle or the dealership servicing the vehicle. The servicing dealership did everything they could do with the LIMITED parts and guidance from the manufacturer.

The real thrust of my complaint is toward Infiniti Consumer Affairs. I will start off by advising anybody who thinks this organization is there to be a service to you, you are DEAD wrong.

I will not go into all the common problems I had with my vehicle, I feel these are still being discussed in these forums. However, I will focus this post on a safety issue that Infiniti was never helpful in addressing.

Passenger Side AirBag

Ever since we owned the car, when my wife would sit in the passenger seat the "Passenger Airbag Off" light on the dash would turn on and off. We took the QX56 into the shop to have them look at it, they told me the sensor in the seat seemed to be working properly, but they would contact the technical department at infiniti for futher guidance.

After this first visit, I made numerous phone calls to Consumer Affairs to see what the status of the Passenger Airbag repair was. I was continually informed that they were looking into it. My next visit to the dealer was about a month after my first visit. The dealer told me to read a document they attached to my work order, and they were still trying to get guidance from Infiniti Technical Department as how to resolve my problem. The Infiniti document the dealer gave my states the following: "Front-passenger-seat occupants weighing over 102lbs (46.3kg) and who are properly seated and using the seat belt as outlined in the Owner's Manual should not cause the passenger air bag to be automatically turned OFF". My wife is 5'7" tall and weighs 120lbs.

After another week or so not hearing from Infiniti Consumer Affairs, I decided to ask to speak to the manager in the department. I explained my situation and she said the thought Infiniti was writing a TSB on the issue but she was not sure. She assured me she would call me the next day to let me know. Well after waiting another 1 1/2 weeks and still no call back from the manager of consumer affairs I made another call back to the department. The day I called the manager was not in the office to take my call, so I explained my situation to another person in consumer affairs. She was very nice when I explained my ongoing unresolved problem and she asked to put me on hold while she contacted the technical department. When she came back on the line, her answer to me was that the weight required to make the passenger airbag work was set by the federal government and Infiniti has no control over the government mandates. I told her this is perfectly acceptable with me, and I asked her if she could tell me what the government weight requirement for passenger airbags were. She said this was a perfectly reasonable request, she did not know the answer at the time, but she would research it and contact me that day with the answer. That afternoon when I talked to Infiniti Consumer Affairs I was informed by a gentleman reading from my file that under no circumstance is Infiniti going to give me the weight requirement to make the airbag function.

As you can imagine I was getting a little upset, so I decided to contact the National Highway Traffice Safety Administration to find out for myself how much my wife needs to weight so she does not get killed in a frontal impact. I was informed by the NHTSA the airbag needs to work if the occupant exceeds 4'8" and 80lbs. According to the government mandate, my wife is 50% above the threshold to make this airbag deploy.

The next day I decided to write a letter to Infiniti Consumer Affairs hoping I would be able to solve my problem. I UPS'ed my letter overnight to them on 6/2, on 6/3 they received it. Again I waited patiently (like an idiot) thinking they were going to respond to my letter. I called them on June 21 to see if they had responded to my letter, they told me the never got my letter. I explained that I UPS'ed it to them and will call back with the name of the person who signed for it. But while I had them on the phone I asked what the status of my airbag repair was. My case worker at Infiniti Consumer Affairs told me that since the airbag parts are sensative parts they could not be air freighted to the dealership. I asked her if I could assume the parts were being sent by ground, she said no I should not assume that. I asked her if I could assume she is being honest with me, then she got very angry with me raising her voice asking me if I was insinuating she was a lier.

When I called back with the name of the individual who signed for my UPS letter, I was informed that the letter may still be in their mail room, I asked if it was normal for a letter to take 17 days to go from the mail room upstairs to my caseworkers desk. They said they did not know how long it would take for my letter to make it upstairs. I asked them for a fax number to fax my letter over to them, instead of giving me an answer, I was informed they were looking for my letter in the mail room. I asked 3 times for the fax number and they gave me the same answer. I was not until I offered to drive my letter to their facility in Torrance were they willing to give me the fax number.

I faxed the letter to them and my case worker called me back and told me they received it. I asked if they were going to mail me a written response, she said no. So I asked what Infiniti's response was, so here it is:

I was told that this airbag problem is not an Infinit problem, the problem is with the switch manufacturer Johnson Controls. I informed her that I wrote my check to Infiniti when I purchased the car not Johnson Controls, she told me this was infinit's position.

At that point I contacted William R. McGee in california a lemon law attorney. I dropped my car off at the dealer last week and received my check today.

I would never be posting this message if it weren't for the people at Infiniti Consumer Affairs. As hard as Infiniti was trying to compete with Lexus on quality and customer service, they have fallen far short.

I just wonder if Nissan of North America cares about the people who may die in the passenger airbag, or does it cost too much to fix. If you think I am an isolated case, click on the link below and cut and paste the ODI numbers in the box. These are customers with the same complaints with the Armada and Titan, both using the same sensor.

http://www-odi.nhtsa.dot.gov/cars/pr...aintsearch.cfm

Nissan Titan

10073252, 10083431, 10074705, 10073293, 10074723, 10072969

Nissan Armada

10072534

Infiniti QX56

10079597

Let's hope Nissan of North America does the right thing for the families who are riding in their cars day after day.

 

I would set in on fire and then set it sailing into the Lexus dealership. Once the smoke and ashes cleared, I would raise the biggest Japanese flag I could find over the site in memory...











But, as far as I know, Lexus isn't planning on building any cars in Indiana in 2006.

 

Which is too bad. Indiana could use a Lexus plant.

So is the RX330 (the one originating in Canada) falling apart?

Any of you that went from a Japanese RX300 to the RX330 from North America have any comments on quality?

M.

 

But Subaru is planing on making the Forester there in 06. You still have that or not?

 

Nissan's quality woes are likely the result of unprecedented growth more than anything else. Sales are up 20%+ this yr.

Japanese plants are usually better than their American counterparts, in Japan a worker stays at the same company their entire lifetime. In the US workers switch companies as their careers advance. Toyota has a huge problem with GM taking their factory level managers, which apply their knowledge at GM plants. Consequently Toytoa has no choice but to keep their best secrets in Japan.

 

Nissan / Infiniti quality has drastically declined over the past few years. The 90-94 Infinitis were bulletproof, as was/is the mid 80s to mid 90s Nissans. My fathers work truck is a 1988 Nissan $WD, with the 3.0L V6, the same engine as the Maxima had. The truck now has 252K and still runs like new. My uncle bought it new in 1988 and my dad bought it in 2000, when it had 201K. NO major problems. First timing belt replaced at 205K and first starter replaced at 245K, exhaust system last week. That is it- NO other problems. Still has the original clutch, alternator, power steering pump, etc. Still, the interior is 100% squeak and rattle free!

That uncle bought a new (at the time) Nissan Frontier and even he says the 2000 is no where near the quality the 1988 was.

My other uncle bought a brand new 2003 Frontier Supercharged 4dr, 4WD, last year. 28K and problems galore. Vibrations (been to 5 Nissan dealers- NONE can find the problem), engine rattles. He had a moderate accident in it a few weeks ago, because of the vibration around a curve and the weakness of brakes. Still in the shop trying to get it repaired. My aunt bought a 2001 Altima SE. Paid $24000 for it. It has 33K (has a minivan and rarely drives this car now), but it suffers from rattles, rattling steering components and broken power window switches. JUNK, JUNK!
In comparison- my other aunt had a 1988 Nissan Stanza back in the early 90s. It had already racked up 221K miles and was still 100% rattle free & perfect running order.

Hopefully the all-new Altimas and soon to be all-new Frontiers will be much better.