American Vehicles Suck!

I hate to be negative and try to look on the positive but I think I had enough lately with my brand new company van. On my way down from Northern California, the stereo system went wacky on me. I went to a rest stop to release the two liters of water that I drank and then got back into my car and behold, the stereo would not activate. Instead, I got this blinking LED on the dash. My first thought was the antitheft feature is going bonkers but then the van did start up. So, I went to check out the owner's manual. Yes, I do look at vehicle owner's manuals. In fact, it makes great bathroom reading material. Anyways, it says that the red LED indicates that the stereo is not programmed for the vehicle or that it was installed incorrectly.

At this point, I'm getting into my troubleshooting mode and decide to turn off the van and turn it back on hoping that the stereo would come on. Well, it worked...until my next stop. My next stop was to get my weekly fix for my addiction of In and Out Burgers. After savoring my two Double Double's protein style, I hopped back into my van and turned on the engine. Again, the stereo did not come on and the LED was blinking again. I turned off the van and started it up again...no luck. I tried for what felt like an eternity all in vain. So for the last 200 miles of driving, I had no stereo. I was going insane driving with no music for 200 miles! All I had was listening to the van as it traveled along. I changed lanes to hear something different other than the van droning on and bugs splattering on the windshield. It was strange that the sound of the tires going over those lane reflectors were such a welcoming sound change. Of course I did not make lane changes often since that would result in the highway patrol wanting to give me a thank you note for contributing to their funds.

I figured that I needed to take the van into a dealership so they could check out the stereo problem and thus made arrangements the next business day. Well, they said that it needed to be reprogrammed with the latest software which they did. That fix only lasted for two days. I figured that maybe OnStar would be helpful in my problems so I activated it. All I got was silence. It appears that for OnStar to work, the stereo has to work. I just wanted to scream and pluck out that blinking LED. Yeah, that LED was like some irritable person who would not stop winking at you. So, off to the dealer I go to resolve this problem. Well, they told me that part of the computer system is malfunctioning and that I should come in tomorrow when they get the replacement part. So I leave and return again the next day. After waiting for an hour and a half, they tell me that the part is not there and that it is on a national back order. It took 1.5 hours to find out they don't have the part?

This shows how much American cars are not built with quality and customer service sucks! And GM wonders why their sales are dwindling and they may face bankruptcy while other car makers such as Toyota, Nissan, and Honda are gaining marketshare in North America. I've owned a Chevy when I was in college and that car sucked. It received 5 recalls...3 of which were recalls of recalls. It constantly broke down and was in the shop more times than on the road. It was a financial nightmare for a college student. I vowed then to never own an American vehicle. I then purchased a Nissan after I got a job. I ran it for 180,000 miles with no problems. I was so pleased with it that I got another Nissan. My Maxima has given me no problems at all and rides as advertised, a four door sports car.

All of the company vehicles I had were all American vehicles except for a Toyota Sienna. Two Fords, a Taurus and a Windstar, and now a Chevy Uplander. All of them gave me problems. The Taurus had major electrical problems as well as a defective windshield wiper...I found that one out during a downpour on the freeway. The Windstar had transmission problems, electrical issues, and engine problems. Now, the Uplander is giving me computer problems. The Sienna that I had for a month worked like a champ and it had 190,000 miles on it when I received it. When is Detroit going to learn that their quality, design, and ergonomics suck? What is it with American cars? We can send someone to the moon, send satellites into deep space, but we can't make a troublefree car. After my experiences with American cars, I will definitely never buy an American car and I'll stick to Japanese cars. American vehicles suck!