Quality

Let's be a little objective. Women with 10 pounds of junk hanging off their keychains drive a lot more than GMs. They drive Hondas, and Toyotas, and Fords, and Dodges, and Kias. But that particular "quirk" only seemed to cause consistent problems with a particular set of GM ignitions, not all of them.

GM had an issue they tried to ignore. They knew about it. They got caught.

Ultimately, the smoking gun Cooper had been seeking, a document from a GM engineer that authorized changing the ignition switch, came by way of the congressional investigation. The 2006 work order, authorizing supplier Delphi to increase the torque force of its ignition switch, bore the signature of Ray DeGiorgio.

That wasn’t all. As it turned out, DeGiorgio’s 2006 order came four years after an email he wrote to the ignition switch manufacturer, in which he ordered the company, rather than fix the part and incur delays, to “do nothing.” The email was signed “Ray (tired of the switch from hell) DeGiorgio.”

No Accident: Inside GM’s deadly ignition switch scandal

This should not be mistaken as an attack on GM, or a suggestion that they are any different than any other manufacturer. It's easy to cite failures by GM, Ford and FCA. Large ones. None of them has an exclusively pristine record. We can hash some out for each brand, if necessary, but I hope that won't be needed.

The whole "my brand is best", taken to the extreme vitriol we see here at times, is counter productive.