All Entries Tagged With: "quality"

Press Fleet Ram Catches Fire – Worker Sabotage To Blame?

Dallas Morning News contributor Terry Box had a pretty exciting vehicle review recently. He was driving a brand new Longhorn Edition Ram 1500, when other motorists started to waive and gesture at him frantically. The problem? His brand new press fleet Ram was burning.

By the time he got pulled over and out of the truck, the vehicle was quickly engulfed. See the story here.

Brand new Ram burns to the ground – sabotage at play? Image from Dallas Morning News

The question is, was this “a one-in-a-billion situation” as described by Ram CEO Fred Diaz, or is this problem a result of reported worker sabotage at Ram’s Warren Truck Assembly Plant?

Tundra Wins JD Power Vehicle Dependability Award 6 Years In A Row

For the 6th time in as many years, the Toyota Tundra has won the JD Power Vehicle Dependability award in the large truck category. According to the JD Power website, the Tundra came in first with a rating of 4.5 out of 5, the F-150 came in second with 4 out of 5, and the Ram 1500 came in 3rd with a 3.5 out of 5 rating.

Amazingly, GM’s trucks had different dependability scores despite being essentially identical (the Chevy scored 3.5 out of 5, the GMC just 3 out of 5). It’s worth noting here that JD Power’s award is based on vehicle surveys, which, like any metric, has some limitations…but more on that in a minute.

Here’s a complete description of the JD power process, as well as some funny quotes from Ford, Dodge, and GM truck owners who just can’t accept Toyota’s dominance.

$7500 On F150, Toyota Leads Reliability Survey, and Tragic Off-Road Racing Accident

Racing Accident Kills 8

First, my heart goes out to the friends and family of dozens of people today that were either killed, injured, or witness to a really awful racing accident. The video below tells the story:

The driver, according to a few opinions I trust, was doing what he was supposed to be doing (racing) and his truck got away from him. There are people trying to find someone to blame right now – the BLM, for example, has said that their use permit required drivers to slow to 15mph when they were within 50′ of spectators – but anyone who watches these races will tell you that’s a rule that is not followed. The fans were too close, and there are no easy answers as to how to solve this problem. Frankly, it’s a little surprising something like this hasn’t happened before.

JD Power Says Tundra Most Dependable Five Years In A Row

For the last five years, J.D. Power and Associates has declared the Toyota Tundra to be the most dependable large truck on the road. This year’s award is significant in that it is the first dependability award based upon the 2nd generation design of the Tundra. Considering all of the issues the 2nd generation Tundra had in it’s first year, it’s nothing short of miraculous that this truck won JD Power’s dependability award…and that’s likely bad news for Ford, GM, Chrysler, and Nissan for the future.