I'm sure you're right that it wouldn't cost anything to fix the problem. What does it mean, then, that even years later... when Geo is gone and only Toyota Corollas were still being sold... Corollas continued to have the paint problem? Was it just that Toyota didn't care, knowing that these were likely starter cars for many people, and once they were eight or nine years old the majority would be replaced anyway? Is it their belief that since it doesn't impact the Corolla's reliability rating, it doesn't matter?
It matters. It reflects on the company.
I see something similar in Chevrolets. Back in the day (1985) when my brother had a Corvette, he used to go on weekly tirades about how the car was nickle and diming him to death. One day, it was that a heater knob fell off. Another day it, the window's up and down button. At one point, there was something wrong with the acceleration pedal. Another time, the car's carpet started coming off.
The whole car was made of parts that didn't last. But they didn't affect the Corvette's ability to drive, and I guess that was the only thing that mattered to Chevrolet. At the time, they were bragging about all the improvements they'd made. True enough. Corvettes produced in the late '80s lasted a lot longer than their predecessors - but not without an endless stream of shop visits.
Today I own a Chevrolet Silverado. It's nine years old but only has 50,000 miles on it. I'm beginning to experience the same thing - problems galore that are simply AGE related. My left radio speaker went out. My left window button went out. My RIGHT speaker went out. (My guess is that water is able to get into the doors, causing corrosion.) My tire pressure sensors have failed. There's a charging problem where, if I drive a long time with the headlights and radio on (and I have to crank it up loud in order to get enough sound out of the dashboard speakers), the battery gradually drains (so every two months, I hook up a battery charger whether the truck is symptomatic or not.) These are all little things, but each will run me a few hundred dollars so I do without. They're aggravating and make me not want to buy American again.
And then there's THE BAILOUT - but I won't go there. Not today.
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