Revisiting my "quoted" notifications.
Not sure how me saying "we don't know yet what's going to happen" is somehow "my opinion." I'm pretty sure "we don't know yet what is going to happen in the future" is a factual statement 100% of the time, no matter how much you "think" you know what's going to happen.
To add insult to injury, we now we know that they were fined the maximum amount available. So much for YOUR assumption (and insistence) that they wouldn't be.
Recalls: I took my truck in to get the oil changed and they performed a "recall" - on the little motor that opens the back window. Apparently they were going out on some trucks, so they replaced it. Recalls like that go into that big, scary recall number. I wish there was a facepalm emoticon for the overuse of the recall numbers. By the way,
Toyota led 2013 in recalls.
Maybe back when auto manufacturers ONLY recalled on life-threatening situations the recall number was relevant, but now it just means the manufacturer cares enough about quality to fix issues - even mundane ones - for free. I really dislike Toyota, but plenty of people seem to think they're at the opposite end of an imaginary spectrum from GM, so it's worth noting that... nope.
GM is hurting their brand?
Doesn't look like it based on this. Look, I get it if you don't want to ever buy a GM product again. Fine. I never wanted to buy a GM product, ever, until my wife and I bought the vehicles we have now. I had no interest in GM's history, designs, quality, etc... until post-bankruptcy. And it had nothing to do with the bankruptcy itself, or politics (which seem to still be driving the bulk of the negativity here by many), or anything like that. Their quality improved based on 3rd party reporting, their designs were updated to be attractive to me, and other personal decisions went into why we purchased GM vehicles. It was about as unbiased a decision as a person can make.
Like I said in my original comment in this thread: the fact that 13 people died over something that should have been done differently is terrible. The fact they could have fixed it but chose not to is terrible. The fact that they tried to cover it up for years and even took steps to threaten the families is terrible. Those are all great reasons to never want to buy from GM again.
That being said... we take a risk every time we drive a mechanical device at high speeds around other people driving mechanical devices that something can go wrong. My tires may come apart and flip the vehicle. My ignition may get stuck and increase my speed unexpectedly. I may lose power steering mid lane change and misjudge my actions. The engine, which is combusting gasoline inside of it to fuel the machine, may catch fire. We take these risks.
When things go wrong, it's tragic, and you'd like to think that a company would take responsibility. But when they DO take responsibility, we have people like the OP who bash them for it. At some point, someone has to stand up and say "we screwed up, we're trying to fix it," which is going to bring to light all the things needing to be fixed. So we are supposed to then punish them for taking responsibility? I'm not sure that's a solid precedent to set. Why do you think they covered it up in the first place? To avoid the backlash. You feed the problem by feeding the backlash.
By all means, make your own personal purchasing choices. Tell others about why you did it. But inciting vindictiveness and outrage in a public forum is just feeding the problem. How about "I'll never buy GM again because I don't trust them, but at least they seem to be owning up to it now, that's a step in the right direction." Of course, that would involve rational, intelligent discourse, and that was never the intent on a thread titled "GM is acting like scum."
