To the surprise of no one, Consumer Reports picks Honda and Toyota as the most manufacturers with the most reliable and highly rated cars and trucks. Subaru also scored well. Although GM and Ford have some highly rated models, overall the U.S. auto makers get poor grades. Chrysler ranks at the bottom with no recommended models.
CR's graph tells the story:
Side air bags and electronic stability control are two of the most effective safety features available on new cars. The good news is that the federal safety agency is requiring auto makers to equip cars with side air bags by the 2010 model year and stability control by the 2012 model year.
The bad news is that buyers must buy expensive additional option packages, or even a more expensive model, to get these features. As reported by Cheryl Jensen in February 20, 2009, edition of the NY Times, a person buying a 2008 Nissan Altima 4-cylinder car would have to move up to the V-6 and buy the technology package for an added cost of $5,000 to $6,000.
Ms Jensen points out that even Honda, a leader in car safety, does not offer stability control on the basic 2009 Honda Fit and Insight models.
Writing in the NY Times auto blog, Chris Jensen explores whether GM and Chrysler will honor new-car warranties if they file Chapter 11 bankruptcy. The bankruptcy experts agree the companies would not have to do so and theoretically creditors could object to being disfavored. However, creditors and the bankruptcy judges would realize that honoring warranties is critical to maintaining customer goodwill and hence the warranties would be honored.
GM's warranty costs were $4.5 billion in 2007 so clearly a lot of money is at stake.
GM has said it will always honor its warranties forever. GM has said it will honor Saab warranties post its recent bankruptcy filing in a Swedish court. Chrysler states it is committed to serving its customers.
The NPR program Car Talk with Tom and Ray Magliozzi, aka Click and Clack, is the most popular car show on the radio. Ever wonder how you get through to talk about your car? It is not a matter of just calling 1-888-227-8255 and waiting to get connected to hosts according to a Wall Street Journal article in its February 18, 2009, edition.
About 10,000 people call in to Car Talk's answering machines every day. Some 1,000 callers manage to leave messages. Interns screen the messages and a producer makes follow-up calls to about 25 persons. The producer looks for a dozen articulate folks with a sense of humor and an interesting, current car problem that is straight forward enough to be discussed on the air. They also look for diverse "voices," (urban, rural, young, old, male, female) and an assortment of issues.
Contrary to some rumors, the brother do not have advance information on the callers or their car problems. The Car Talk website is www.cartalk.com.
