It sure seems that way. They always seem to knock down American cars but, praise the imports to the heavens. The recent Toyota recall, oops, that word is not in Toyotas vocabulary, seems to bear that out. A friend of mine said today he saw the newspaper coverage of the recall and it was buried on page three of the business or auto section, whatever. He called that paper, a Detroit paper, and talked to the guy who wrote it and asked him why it was buried on page three but, when an US car company has a recall, it's in nice size headlines on the front page. The writer said, they don't do that. My friend said he was full of it and that they did. And on the tv news, Fox I think, reported the Toyota recall, someone from that company said they don't use that word. They don't have "recalls". What are they, then, tiny little mistakes.

 

I disagree. I just think that time import haters want to do anything to discredit Toyota's dependability reputation, so they use the old "media bias" claim.
GM had a recall last year on their brakes and you didnt hear about that in the news.
IMO, the media likes to pick on Ford but I would not say they are biased against all US automakers.

 

The media does indeed have a bias against US car companies. Everyone prays to the Toyota God.
Ed G

 

Nissan has jsut had a memo to their dealer regarding selling the Sentra with the four cylinder engines. Seems like they like to get a litle hot under the hood. Does the word FIRE mean anyhting!

 

i agree, there is bias against US auotmakers, just on the basis the media is mostly liberal so it jumps on any bandwagon it can when it comes to anti-american stuff, whether good or bad.

 

The media is protecting their interests. They aren't concerned about which car company is better than another, they're simply selling the headlines that they think will get the most attention.

Besides, one recall is not going to put much of a dent in Toyota's reputation. Toyota never claimed to be perfect, just dang close in terms of quality. That's called good advertising and they've got a customer base to prove their claims.

 

Exactly and thats what the domestic fanboys never seem to understand. Ive owned Toyotas in the past and trust me, they break down sometimes. However, Ive spent a lot more time and money making repairs on the Fords Ive owned than I ever did on any of the Toyotas I owned (and the Toyotas had a lot more miles on them than the Fords did).
However, Id still take a Ford or Chevy/GMC over a Toyota. The domestic trucks just have a certain macho attitude that Toyotas, Hondas and Nissans just dont have. Ive gotten waaay more complments about the Fords Ive owned than on any of the Toyotas I owned.

 

I'd agree with that assessment. The one media outlet with an obvious bias is Consumer Reports. They are biased to their readers, who all seem to drive imports. Didn't stop them from reporting the Suzuki Samurai rollovers, but they do seem to have little good to say about Detroit iron.

 

Lets see here, did you hear about the early Tundras that were prone to rollovers due to tires (sound familiar?), the bad brakes on the Tundras, the O2 sensors that die at about 60-70,000 miles and are around $800. to replace. Didn't hear about that, huh. Did you hear about the NEW Tundras driveshaft vibration in the 4 door model? Have you ever done a Google search for Toyota engine sludge? And then you ask is there media biase? This is a joke- right?

 

I would have to say the media has lost its focus on what they are supposed to do.

IMO, all they want to do is sensationalize everything they report on to get the BEST SPIN possible so their headline reaches more people can sells more papers.

Instead of just reporting the facts.


Also remember that The Major 3 have been having recalls for years, this is nothing new.The import companies were hardly a speck on the NA auto industry map until the Civic,Corrolla,etc came on the scene.

BUT,once the Imports became a full force identity against the North American makers, the media could spout all sorts of things.

Heck they could get all sorts of info right here on FTE if they wanted.

 

All manufacturers have recalss sooner or later, anyone that has worked the service side in any dealer knows about them. It can be as minor as a wind noise, rattle or leak, or as major as life threatening, but all have recalls. REcalls are not just limited to dangerous things, but those are the ones that are publicised. Most actually are more of a service recall or service bulletin, which get handled when the car wanders back into the dealerships. Not all recalls are proactive mailings and media releases, as it would get boring to hear of the little things going wrong.

 

The New York Times recently had a very strong anti-GM piece. It really is not an anti-US automaker bias, although that is how it has been viewed by some. It is really a "liberal" bias against SUV's, and GM's offer of subsidized fuel in a few markets to revive sales.

If GM still offered electric vehicles, or at least had a decent selection of hybrids, they could more easily defend their position. All the hype about flex-fuel models is worthless for the vast majority that have no access to E85.

Jim

 

Don't even get me started on Consumer Reports!

Those guys complain about lack of trunk room in a high end sports car. They were expecting...? Not to mention that they nitpick every little thing that's wrong with an American SUV. However, if a Honda doesn't satisfy them, they'll let it slip by and recommend it anyway. CR is worthless as far as cars (or trucks) is concerned.

 

Motor trend has totally gone import, they will pick a honda ridgeline over any american truck, and it's a posser truck. In 4x4 of the year, some mags will pick any import over the jeep rubicon, which is the best factory 4x4 on the market.

 

I think the imports used to have a edge in quality in the past but are losing it as they become more popular now. The one thing I noticed with the imports has been that it seems like they have the recall sooner than later. The US companies seem to drag it out to the bitter end before doing anything. I remember when I had a Fairmont that they just sent us a sticker telling us to set the parking brake before getting out of the car instead of fixing the tranny. Also GM has had a problem with piston slap on some engines and Ford has trucks burning up because of a cruise control switch, so the Toyota problems are much different