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Why are there not more VW recalls?

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MYGTIMKV

Ready to race!
Location
New Jersey Shore
Hello All,

If Toyota and Honda are the pinnacle of reliability...why does is seem they have more recalls (airbag in the news) than VW?

Maybe I am wrong...perhaps forums can give a skewd impression on the number of issues with the GTI and the triggering of a recall.

The GTI/TSI is below average in reliability now according to my research. I had high hopes VW finally got it right after all this time... (my 1985 Jetta not so good-1990's horrendous-early 2000 wife's Jetta money pit/windows falling in door- 2008 FSI cam follower, etc.)

Does it take a lawyer's car to fail before something is done?

Seems to me my intake manifold (#3 on car), small radiator fan, etc. should have triggered a recall if it happens so often.

Thoughts...?

Cheers,

VW detail appreciator-no-excuse maker
 
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R

Rajini98

.
Location
NC
Pretty sure it's all a price point. The sale price of the car is what covers warranty services. At some point, damage control becomes generosity which very few businesses hand out on a whim.

Toyota and Honda are able to cover warranty work due to pure volume. With volume comes revenue, with revenue comes more strict QA and R&D. Since you buy either of those brands for a low price and don't care about build quality(e.g. plastic trim, squishy shocks, not so crisp transmission), you can be a lot more lax on precision.

This is what makes them money. Fewer cars with problems means there's a larger retainer for when something does go wrong. VW is starting to take this approach boasting their past "quality" engineering but taking the route of cheaping out on the details, essentially turning the jetta and passat into the new civic/camry and accord/corrola. This could end up making VW into a more reliable brand if they arent on the cutting edge mechanically but no longer associating VW with quality, rather reliability.
 
BlaineWasHere

BlaineWasHere

I brake for apexes!
Location
NorCal
MYGTIMKV said:
^thanks for the reply, but shouldn't it be about the percentage of failures not the raw number of failures? I only drive one car!
Click to expand...

Yes, but it isn't.

It's about public perception and a need for the manufacture to spend the money to save face in spite of telling everyone the car is flawed. (Unless it's actaully a safety issue, but cam followers and intake manifolds are dangerous).

If there are 100 GTI drivers and 10 cars fail not too many pissed off people.

If there are 1000 Accords and 100 cars fail we have more pissed off people wining about Honda build quality with the same failure rate as the GTI.
 
-SnowMan-

-SnowMan-

Ready to race!
Location
Denver, CO
To quote Fight Club...

"A new car built by my company leaves somewhere traveling at 60 mph. The rear differential locks up. The car crashes and burns with everyone trapped inside. Now, should we initiate a recall? Take the number of vehicles in the field, A, multiply by the probable rate of failure, B, multiply by the average out-of-court settlement, C. A times B times C equals X. If X is less than the cost of a recall, we don't do one."
 
A1an

A1an

Hellafunctional
Location
Tampa, FL
MYGTIMKV said:
Maybe I am wrong...perhaps forums can give a skewd impression on the number of issues with the GTI and the triggering of a recall.
Click to expand...

You hit the nail on the head right there.

Big example is the 05-07 2.5 with the "rampant timing chain issues" talked about all over the intrawebs. I talked to plenty of trusted VW service writers and techs who wouldn't feed me a line of shit...not one of them had ever seen a 2.5 come in for those issues.
 
Red5pade

Red5pade

.
Location
Pikeville, KY
Car(s)
Subaru
BlaineWasHere said:
You realize that globally VW sells MORE cars than Honda and just about as many as Toyota?
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dont quote me but i think toyota sold 2.8million and vw sold 2.3million. vw sales are growing at a much quicker rate and will likely pass toyota in a few yrs if their growth rate continues.... but that new corolla or camry concept looked good so maybe that wont be so. thing i like about vw designs are they are conservative and seem to look good for yrs after they come out, but many other manufacturers go with radical changes and their cars become ugly over time. the more i look at my gti, the more i like it, but the more i see my sisters newer corolla, the more i hate it. good car but feels cheap inside and the weird body lines look weirder and weirder the more you look at it.
 
A

aw614

Ready to race!
Location
Lutz, FL, USA
Rajini98 said:
Toyota and Honda are able to cover warranty work due to pure volume. With volume comes revenue, with revenue comes more strict QA and R&D. Since you buy either of those brands for a low price and don't care about build quality(e.g. plastic trim, squishy shocks, not so crisp transmission), you can be a lot more lax on precision.
Click to expand...

I dont know on the newer cars, but the older Hondas and Toyotas while they certainly felt cheaper to VWs, the the build quality seemed to last longer than VW. I felt a lot of VWs were designed to initially feel very good well built, but just not designed for the long term especially their interiors and can spot/see where the interior will be falling apart in the future, things like headliners, seat bases scratching, are ones that come to mind.

One nitpick, the honda manual transmissions certainly feel better than the comparable vw manual that feels like a shifting in mush.

Hoping me being cynical about VW reliablity, I'll end up with a reliable VW this time around lol
 
freshpots

freshpots

r'zub n t'zug
Location
Canada
Car(s)
'22 GTI, '19 GT350R
Red5pade said:
dont quote me but i think toyota sold 2.8million and vw sold 2.3million. vw sales are growing at a much quicker rate and will likely pass toyota in a few yrs if their growth rate continues.... but that new corolla or camry concept looked good so maybe that wont be so. thing i like about vw designs are they are conservative and seem to look good for yrs after they come out, but many other manufacturers go with radical changes and their cars become ugly over time. the more i look at my gti, the more i like it, but the more i see my sisters newer corolla, the more i hate it. good car but feels cheap inside and the weird body lines look weirder and weirder the more you look at it.
Click to expand...

Agreed.. What you said just there makes me think of the direction Nissan went with their Sentra. I don't particularly like them, but this body style:



Looks 400 billion times better then the up to 2012 style. Car is now big and ugly as shit:



The latest Sentra is a step up from that, but still ugly and fat IMO.
 
Timpanogos Slim

Timpanogos Slim

Go Kart Champion
Location
Hurtling up and down I15 in Utah
I am pretty sure that nissan is trying to make the sentra more appealing to people who have professional careers (and thus more money).

I can't show up to this job in some JDM boy racer car. But a GTI is very acceptable, as is any VW or Audi, and most american muscle.
 
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