Why do Japanese cars have a reputation for being so much more reliable than their American or Euro counterparts?

Question

Why do Japanese cars have a reputation for being so much more reliable than their American or Euro counterparts?

In: 2

Answer 1

There’s an anecdote about Ford visiting a production line in Japan.

In the American production lines they had people with rubber mallets that would “adjust” the doors to fit as the cars rolled off. The Japanese production lines didn’t have these people and the doors for perfectly.

When asked why they didn’t need the adjusters, the Japanese explained that they got it right at the design stage and made sure it was right the whole way through.

That’s a very typical Japanese cultural concept.

The anecdote is in Malcolm Gladwells book “The Tipping Point”