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It seems that the "theme" for the year is multiple car issues caused by technologies and devices being used to try to increase gas mileage. Mandates by the government.
1)CVT's-First it was Nissan, then Subaru having to extend the warranty due to complaints, Honda, and the latest is Toyota. Chevy added CVT to some of their lineup this year, I'm sure they will follow suit with an increase in failures. Toyota's lastest one:
Sorry, but something is seriously wrong when every single manufacturer has problems with a component/design.
2)Stop-start Function
Some people have reported their cars stalling out or it not functioning right. Some due to user error of course. Some say it has no effect on the starters lifespan, others are saying different. Not all manufacturers have a way to disable the function if you don't like it. A couple of studies have shown it has no added benefit really.
3)Turbos on top of four cyclinders. Puts quite a strain on the engine when it's in a SUV or truck. This reduces the lifetime of the components. It has also lead some cars that used Regular gasoline to require Premium fuel, offsetting fuel costs.
Car companies were simply not given enough time to develop these products and technology. Instead they are putting them out there and the American public is basically the guinea pig. Let's see if they work and for how long. You may get four more miles to the gallon but you also may be broke down on the side of the road.
Perhaps the worst stories I keep hearing are people whose parts/engines have problems and the company has to make the parts, they don't have them. See Toyota article up above. They have to order them from overseas. This leads people with a brand new car in the shop for a month while they wait on the parts.
It seems in many ways cars are more reliable but in many other ways they are actually more prone to dying before 100K miles.
I'd love to hear thoughts/personal experiences with all of the new fuel efficient technology.
Sounds like Toyota simply got a bad batch of a specific part and has issued a recall for a very limited number of vehicles of one model. Unfortunate and inconvenient for those with affected vehicles but it happens. I'm just pointing this out because there is a huge difference between that and knowingly and continuously equipping vehicles with poorly designed failure prone major components. Perhaps the current Tacoma powertrain would be a better example...while it's not failing (that I am aware of) many people aren't happy with the torque curve, engine power and gear hunting...all for the sake of a relatively insignificant increase in fuel economy.
As far as all the recalls industry wide are concerned I think it's the combined result of the high number of new vehicles being sold (17+ ml in the US alone this year), each of those vehicles being more complex and with more parts than ever and maufactures cutting costs where they can and sometimes shouldn't.
I bought a new vehicle with proven old school tech...this was a huge factor in my purchasing decision. I would 100% rather sacrifice a few mpgs and the greatest infotainment for reliability. I hope by the time I need a replacement vehicle most of the manufacturers have their problem areas sorted out. It would be great to have had more vehicles to seriously consider.
Notice that Toyota is not downsizing with turbos. They're probably the most conservative and focused on reliability of any manufacturer. Even without a downsized engine, the latest Camry achieves 41mpg highway.
I'm wary of all automatics, personally.
As far as stop-start, it's easy to build a reliable electric motor, one which will outlast every other component in a car. The starter will last as long as it was well built. In previous decades starters were the cheapest, smallest brushed brushed motors they could get their hands on.
As far as stop-start, it's easy to build a reliable electric motor, one which will outlast every other component in a car. The starter will last as long as it was well built. In previous decades starters were the cheapest, smallest brushed brushed motors they could get their hands on.
You might look up the history of the electric starter, sometime. It's all just a bit more tricky than you might think. (All of the best minds of the era said it was impossible; the math clearly showed that an electric motor capable of generating the torque needed for starting would outweigh the engine itself. And no, it wasn't a factor of ca. 1915 electrical engineering, which was fairly highly developed. The math and engineering were impeccable and still pretty much stand today; it took Kettering's genius to figure out the flaw in the reasoning.)
But yes, start/stop cars aren't going to be able to use starters that work just fine under normal use, and a lot of the reason goes right back to Kettering.
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Sounds like a whole lot of 'Get off my lawn". Fuel saving measures have been with us for a very long time and have always had naysayers. Given the climate issues we are facing, saving fuel seems prudent and strategies for doing that will continue.
Remember the disaster of GM [Cadi? Buick? Olds?]converting some of their big block gasoline engines to diesel during the early 70's gas crisis? That didn't work out well.
Everyone said the same things about emissions equipment throttling the performance and power of cars back in the 70's. Yeah, they did, but now you have cars making 500+ HP and have all the emissions stuff on them.
New tech can be a PITA at first, but given some time they'll get everything humming along to where you don't even think about it anymore.
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