There's some tasty morsels in your posts....
Quote:
Originally Posted by Grishbok
if YOU were the Executive in charge of the FRS/BRZ, how would you handle this given situation? Would you a. jump the gun and freak out over a forum with a thread regarding the issue, recall ALL sold cars to date, replace any part in question and end up costing your employer billions in revenue on cars that may or may not have ever even had an issue to start with?
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Exhibit A: Case study on the BMW S54 Rod Bearing Failures. BMW recalled every E46 M3 made from Oct 2001, thru March 2002 to completely rebuild their bottom ends and replace their oil pumps because of problems with the connecting rod bearings being under sized. Engine warrantees for all 2001 and 2002 M3's were extended to 100k miles (extended beyond the affected engines). Several hundred motors were replaced as a result of damage that was found during the rebuild process...
...and yes, I am comparing a $25,000 car with a $55,000 car, a $10,000 crate engine (someone, please correct me if I'm wrong about cost of an FA20) with an $18,000 crate engine and no, I'm not crazy. I could argue that the successful launch of this car is worth more to Toyota then the successful launch of the E46 M3 meant to BMW in 2001-2002. If BMW could afford this, so could Toyota
Sometimes an extraordinary response is appropriate, sometimes it isnt.
The one thing I would do is instruct my customer service staff to stop lying to customers telling them "they're the first to report the issue" (as has been reported multiple times in this thread). To my paying customers, I would acknowledge the problem.
As for the, "freak out over a forum with a thread" statement I'm going to go out on a limb here and say this; only a fraction of the affected cars are on this thread. Toyota/Subaru knows much better then we do what the numbers are and it's unlikely 100 or so cars represented here represent the total number defects. Also, I believe the numbers will continue to grown because the affected cars are probably still working themselves out of the supply chain.
In short, there's plenty of room for this to grow into a major headache for them.
Quote:
Originally Posted by Grishbok
b. Look at the cars being brought back and reported through your official channels, attempt to isolate and uncover the common denominator using your dealer networks and service technicians training and experience.
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Option B. is the only way to determine root cause. However....
The effectiveness of this approach depends entirely on the competency of and the resources available to the technicians. The training is a plus but there's practically ZERO boxer engine experience within the network of Toyota service departments. From the the post repair reports coming in most people seem to be having good experiences, some aren't.
Quote:
Originally Posted by Grishbok
Should you stop driving your car out of fear? That doesnt make much sense, if you dont have the problem, and your car is operating as it should, drive it.
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AMEN. As far as I can tell about 5-7% of the cars are affected.
Quote:
Originally Posted by Grishbok
So far, Subaru and Scion have done an impecable job at addressing these concerns with unheard of customer service. Many of you have posted you have received reimbursement for your monthly payment. They did not HAVE to do this. You signed a document saying you would pay x amount each month you owned the car.
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Indeed, this is a nice touch. Toyota especially should be congratulated for their generosity (from some of the posts here I'm not sure Subaru has been as giving)
Quote:
Originally Posted by Grishbok
Good luck getting reimbursement from Audi. Theyd walk out and drop a dookie on the hood of your car before they ever gave you a cent.
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VW/Audi is in my opinion the worst company you could by a car from. The 1.8T Coil Pack fiasco, the issues with the 2.7 turbo's, the VVT systems dying on 60k B6 V8's in the S4's, the windows "melting" out of their convertible tops. The list of beautifully styled crap with those clowns is endless...
Quote:
Originally Posted by Grishbok
If you have the problem, let the dealer networks do their thing...
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Indeed, the service we get from them are the only hope we have...
Quote:
Originally Posted by Grishbok
...and the executives in charge, have been trained and groomed specifically for their job role. They are doing everything they can.
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...and with that comment you're beginning to sound a lot like a "social networking specialist" companies hire when they need to dig themselves out of these messes.
