NHTSA campaign #04V559000:

2005 Mazda 3:

Seems ridiculous, but at least it posed a fire risk.

NHTSA campaign #00V242000

Certain Taurus and Sables were shipped without designated seating capacity printed on the safety certification label, and in some cases the GVWR was also missing or incorrect.

Owners got a new sticker to put on their car.

Phew - because without that, I might have had to count the number of…

Did the air suspension fail as normal, or did some idiot lower this car?

$800? Totally worth it. That's not much above its value as scrap metal. Buy it and have fun. Even if it takes $1200 to get it running well, that is still a cheap used car.

$2500? Highway robbery for that job...

First off, Honda claimed to be a net exporter from the US - this is clearly not true. Not even close.

Until aftermarket parts come out.

For example, a headlight assembly for my Mazda6 comes in at $553 from the dealer. Aftermarket new is $220. Used OEM is $100. Same story with radiator fans - OEM from the dealer is $650 - aftermarket is $120.

And any body shop that charges more for insurance payments than for cash isn't worth visiting, IMO. Cash is cash. They aren't experiencing more than a few dollars extra cost to handle a tiny bit of paperwork, but they want $1200 more? Highway robbery.

Frankly, a sample size of 1 is ridiculously unusable for any conclusions.

Try taking that to a dozen different shops and getting quotes. Maybe one won't try to rip you off.

And note that, as with any new technology experience for shops, initial repair prices may be absurd yet still quickly drop to normal. For example,…

You know that the Honda transmissions made in Japan had just as high of a failure rate, right? There were just fewer of them. The problems were design defects, not manufacturing defects.

Yes, Canada and Mexico are part of NAFTA. But they are still imported vehicles. Honda had the balls to claim they were a net exporter of vehicles from the US in a year when they sold almost 300,000 more vehicles in the US than they sold in the US. They also imported 88,537 vehicles from Japan that year. I doubt…

Well, when Olds went out of business, a local dealer still had one of these "new" as a dealer demo for about $9k. At that price, it can be otherwise noncompetitive and still win based on price alone.

Frame of reference.

The ambient air is venting itself into the car. :)

Yes, it must be where the car is made, because you saw two completely different models where one was made in Japan and the other made in the US.

You know, I once saw a Toyota Yaris that was made in Japan - it was nowhere near as nice as a Citroen C6. I guess all French cars are higher quality than all Japanese cars.

Most are manufactured in North America. Be careful of falling for their marketing nonsense like Honda pulled after 2013 - bragging about being a "net exporter", but in reality they were comparing exports from the US to imports from Japan only (ie, not including their imports from Canada or Mexico).

But here are what…

I know I'm supposed to be outraged, but quite honestly I'm far less troubled by this than I am by the private companies doing this and selling the data to essentially anyone.

No, that's largely a nationwide thing. And its ridiculous. Minivans are much more practical.

I think you missed the point. You have 3 kids, so fitting 5 people in a Mazda5 for long trips would be tight. Most people with minivans only have 2 kids, though, so they don't need seating for 5, they need it for 4 with occasional demands for more room for the kids' friends. The Mazda5 offers that perfect balance -…

Love it, but I'd bet the price jumps well above $6k when all is said and done.... might have to go look at this one myself. :)