Originally Posted by A12
An engineer friend of mine once told me that the Japanese have an engineering philosophy that a car or vehicle should work perfectly right to the "useful life" of the vehicle and no more. If it goes and keeps going beyond the useful life period, then it was OVER ENGINEERED. I always wondered if that over engineering team lost their jobs if that happened? laugh2


I believe- or rather I have read that in the 1990s and early 2000s Toyota OVER engineered their vehicles. What I read is Toyota designed their vehicles taking into consideration the American consumer would NOT be vigilant with preventative maintenance. This makes sense. All the abused Camrys with timing belts needing service 40,000 miles ago and black auto trans fluid but the thing still works! The same source claims German engineers design their vehicles with the assumption the the owner WOULD BE VIGILANT and on time with all preventative maint. The theory about Japanese cars makes sense. I'm sure Toyota realized a car that will last a lifetime is not necessarily good for new car sale profits.

Keep old mopars alive.