Two carmakers who built their reputations on quality and safety have issued recalls for potentially deadly failures in their cars. In September, Toyota issued its largest-ever recall in the United States, affecting 3.8 million Camry, Prius, and other model cars because of unexplained accelerations. In its recall, Toyota blames driver’s side floor mats for causing the acceleration, but lawyers representing a woman killed by her Camry’s uncontrolled acceleration in 2005 charge that the problem is not the floor mats, but an electronic throttle control. Although Toyota and the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) deny that an electronics failure is responsible for the defect, they are now looking at other potential causes. Based on new information from lawsuits, safety tests, and over 400 complaints about uncontrolled accelerations that have caused several fatalities, the NHTSA is looking into potential design problems related to the gas pedal and/or floor pan of the vehicles.

Volvo has for several decades sold its cars on their safety. They are marketed as ideal family cars because of their ability to protect families from injury. Now they are issuing a recall that may threaten that legacy. Volvo is recalling nearly 10,000 2010 XC60s because the seat belt came detached during a crash test. During the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety’s side impact test, the vehicle’s seat belts came undone. Volvo says that during the 50-plus side-impact tests it conducted on the vehicle, the seatbelts had never become detached. The company says that the reason for the detachment is ribs inside the housing that put pressure on the mount, causing it to pop loose. They also say that the voluntary recall is a cautionary measure because the event happened in “one car in one test.”

These two defects show the importance of continued vigilance in looking at all cars by all manufacturers to ensure they are producing quality vehicles that are as safe as possible. The Toyota recall also shows the importance of lawsuits in forcing manufacturers to recognize when there is a problem with their vehicles.

Just mention the word “Pontiac” and I immediately reminisce about the highschool years and the 1983 Trans Am I used to own. I loved the car, a 5.0 V8 with 175 horsepower and 250 lbs/ft torque, bucket seats and t-tops - what more could a teenager ask for? At the time Pontiac’s motto was “We build excitement”, and in the eyes of a 16 year old highschool sophmore, they did indeed. Sure there wasn’t foot room for passengers in the back seat and the t-tops leaked, but those were small inconveniences compared to burnouts at home coming, or beating those tricked out rice burners after school.

I always had hope that Pontiac would revive this name plate (Pontiac stopped production of the Trans Am in 2002) but with the company soon-to-be dissolved, I’m slowly losing hope.

Another favorite, and one of the main muscle cars of the 70’s , the fabled, renowned, and occasionally feared GTO will also cease production.

Sometimes I have difficulty grasping all that is happening with the American Auto Industry. Pontiac going under, GM soon to file for bankruptcy, and Chrysler needing a partnership with Fiat. I often wonder - where did American industrial success go wrong?

Pontiac, with all of their knowledge, designs, and legacy, have fallen under the large shadow cast by GM. Often during the design phase, GM would cut production of certain pontiac parts, engine options, and other Pontiac specific items. If the engineers at Pontiac complained, they were given a lesser GM item that would “work” - thus the slow unraveling of Pontiac began.

Pontiac wasn’t just about speed or power, they had other stable production lines, one of them the Pontiac Bonneville.

The Bonneville started manufacture in 1957.  In 1967 GM discontinued the Pontiac Tri Power engine options on all Pontiac cars and in 1981 Pontiac-built V8 engines were discontinued.  From that point forward, all Pontiac’s were powered by Chevrolet or Oldsmobile engines.

The problems for Pontiac started long ago when GM obviously considered Pontiac to be a throwaway brand, instead of an important member of the family.

If anyone knows even a little about marketing a brand, you know little things set you apart from the competitor. When GM insisted Pontiac use GM parts, they effectively began killing Pontiac sales, and inadvertently, the legacy.

If you’ve ever owned a car, there is probably no question you’ve had car troubles. Its frustrating, time consuming and expensive. Often when you call the stealership with questions they offer no advice and their prompt reply is “bring it in”, translation = “Give us money”.

This blog is about automotive mechanical problems, possible fixes, general maintenance tips and defects found with vehicles, both imports and domestic. I’ll be posting weekly and will be following readers comments and questions so feel free to reply and I will get back with you.

To give a little background: I’ve been mechanically inclined my whole life, I currently build street rods from the ground up (Weekend hobby), I’ve repaired a variety of vehicles with problems ranging from a defective headlight relay to pulling a blown engine, general car maintenance, repaired body damage from auto accidents, during college I even did maintenance and small repairs for a local motorcycle shop. I also have experience in Mig welding, vehicle wiring diagrams, and body work - fixing rust spots, damaged areas, wet sanding.

I’m by no means an authority on the mechanics of automobiles but I grasp technical concepts well and am familiar with almost all aspects of a vehicle’s general makeup, i.e. all cars are generally made of the same parts to make them run but manufactures like to be considered different from competitors. One obvious example is Chevy, Toyota and Ford pick ups using a torsion bar system for the front suspension, whereas Dodge uses the tried and true coil over. You can find arguments favoring either as the better system but it’s probably more about preference and what your plans are for the vehicle - whether you plan on adding a lift, dropping it, or leaving the suspension stock.

Dodge Ram coil over

Chevy Silverado Torsion Bar System