23rd Jan 2007, 20:32

Yes, this dude visits every compact car review and tells the same story of the now 7-year-old Focus with the 20 recalls. Funny thing is that he finally admitted that it wasn't even his car, but a "friend's" car! Hard to believe that someone was so traumatized that they're compelled to talk about it seven years later. Sales must be slow at the Honda dealership where he works. "20 recalls, 20 recalls!"...Polly wanna cracker?

24th Jan 2007, 05:19

I do not think it's a honda dealership... might be a Toyota stockholder however. What gets me is that there is never any comments on the serious defect on the model being discussed. It reverts to another domestic model. Kind of like grade school... Johnnie did it so I am alright.

24th Jan 2007, 09:19

I see, so when people go bragging about great American car quality since time began I'm not supposed to tell my story? Yes, it's a very close friend's car, and it is 100% proof of what crap American cars are. And we are talking cars, not people, so I'm not "traumatized". I just tell my story to state why I will never buy American again under any circumstances. If you want to talk traumatized, suggest you talk about all the victims of Ford Explorer roll overs.

I don't work in the car industry at all, unlike most of the domestic-loving posters here. In fact, my last American-built Honda I should have lemon lawed. I buy the car that is right for me, and that means not giving full time employment to American-car mechanics.

The Ford Focus is STILL the same design from the year 2000, so please tell me what has changed now that we are "seven" years later? In Europe, they are soon to be on version three (just revealed at a recent auto show).

24th Jan 2007, 09:22

You post this on every board and still no one is going to buy into it.

Funny the Ford Explorer never had a single recall on its design flaw that was killing more people than ANY other car sold in the US. And that design flaw existed for 12 years and is still on hundreds of thousands of Explorers on the road today.

24th Jan 2007, 12:20

Ummm no it is the domestics that have to be forced to recall their vehicles... Do you remember a man named Jaque Nasser from Ford a few years back? Well I was only 10 at the time, but I remember hearing in the news about being so hesitant to recall the Explorer or try and redesign it. I also as a kid remember reading about recalls on certain vehicles and I came to the conclusion that Ford vehicles burned the easiest because I would read and hear stories of malfunctioning fuel systems, etc. on the other hand, My Honda Accord has never had a recall at all, save for our '99 Accord which needed to have an interlock installed in the ignition system. IS this life threatening? Maybe for some child sitting in the car playing around and he some how pulled the car out of gear--but let me tell you at least the car did not burst into flames!!!

24th Jan 2007, 13:42

It always amuses me that import owners are so desperate for something to latch onto to criticize domestics that they will invariably go back to a THIRTY YEAR OLD PINTO as an example of a domestic safety defect!!!

In reality the Pinto was only one of a NUMBER of both foreign and import cars that used a rear fuel filler opening, and the only reason Ford got into the news about it was because of a very high profile lawsuit about it.

I'd much rather see some honest discussion about Honda's disastrous transmission fiasco, Nissan's near bankruptcy due to the problem plagued Titan and Armada, or Toyota's recent landslide of massive safety defects.

24th Jan 2007, 14:35

To 12:20 ;Well, you know, Ford owners tend to just step over or forget those kinds of facts, they like to believe that any recall an import has is "life threatening" when Ford has had countless more recalls, and far more serious ones. And thank you for reminding people that Toyota and Honda are much quicker to recall a vehicle than the Little 3, who do so generally when forced to, or when the cost of NOT fixing the problem is less than the cost of the recall itself.

24th Jan 2007, 16:24

12:20...well if your late model Honda/Acura V6 blows a trans with no notice with tractor trailers surrounding you with total power loss... you will pray you won't burst into flames. I sold my last one for exactly this very reason with 2 small children that I had totally loss confidence in the vehicle.

24th Jan 2007, 16:37

Making decisions based on something you heard as a kid? Don't you think it's time to reassess some information like an adult? Then again, having already learned the mantra of "Honda better" is probably already ingrained.

25th Jan 2007, 08:49

Blatantly untrue. Stop posting your myths about how safety conscious domestic manufacturers are. Foreign manufacturers either did not have the fuel tank near the bumper or installed the plastic casing that prevented fires, something Ford KNEW about, but REFUSED to install on the Pinto until the lawsuits.

Ford made and makes endless unsafe vehicles that it KNOWS are unsafe. Just a few examples are Pinto, original Mustang, Bronco II, Ford Explorer, Crown Victoria.

Ford has a HUGE documented history up to this day of calculating the amount of lawsuits vs. the amount of profits it would generate from an unsafe vehicle. Current court cases involving the Explorer just prove this mandate is STILL in force.

Also remember that AMERICAN auto manufacturers continued to use three part seatbelts to save money instead of the one piece and SAFER seatbelts the Japanese and Germans ALWAYS used. And they have NEVER taken the initiative on ANY safety device unless FORCED to by the law or by market forces. And the same holds true for any quality advances.

And I could go on and on about such examples. LIke how in 1993, FOURTEEN years ago, GM ran ad campaigns saying how safety was soooooo important that ALL of its cars had ABS as standard. Here we are in 2007 and ABS is STILL not standard on every GM car. Why is that, especially when they are telling the world how ABS is sooo good?

And remember, American manufacturers also loved and love SUVs because they can AVOID lots and lots of safety requirements that cars had to adhere to. Funny how they were sooooo excited to avoid protecting the consumer. Only now are they remotely installing safety equipment, and the ONLY reason is because of the competition and consumer demand, not because they care about their customers living or not.