Build Quality of Mexico vs US Tacomas

Actually the mexico plant won a JD power award for quality. http://businesscenter.jdpower.com/news/pressrelease.aspx?ID=2008063

 

My 09 DCSB is from Mexico, on purpose. Contrary to popular belief, the plants are nowhere tooled the same. Much more hand assembly in the Mexico plant. Their QIR (Quality Incident Rate) is lower than the other plants.
THAT is why I specifically searched for a Taco with a "M" as the 11th character in the VIN.

 

Actually build location is the first number of the vin. 1 4 and 5 are U.S: 2 is Canada and 3 is mexico. J is japan and W is germany. wiki for the full list

 

Very happy mine is a "5".

<-----------See? NorCal Weeeeeeee!!

 

you folks crack me up...

if all the trucks were made in the exact same place, y'all would be debating which is better due to the day it was made...

if they were all made on the same day...it would be a debate over before or after lunch...

if they all were miraculously made on the same time...same day...same factory...

the debate would be who's truck was built when the sun was shinning vs a rainy day build.

 

My hecho in Mexico '10 hasn't had any build issues. Some of the cheap trim parts have been problematic (door seals specifically) but it's not like they left out a screw or anything. Just cheap interior. I'm cool with that as long as the important stuff is built right, which it seems to be.

 

Wouldn't the cheap trim parts/interiors be the same with all of the trucks?

 

F-125 Racer and Tommy27 are both right. The first number in the VIN is the country and the eleventh
number is the plant.

From Toyota's web site:
Toyota VINs starting with "1", "4", or "5" represent vehicles assembled in the United States and VINs beginning with "2" indicate vehicles assembled in Canada. Vehicles with VINs that start with "J" were produced in Japan. The next five digits (4 through 8) are the Vehicle Description Section (VDS). These digits provide information on the vehicle model, body style, and engine type. The ninth digit is a check digit used internally. The 10th digit indicates the model year; letters (except "O" and "Z") were used for vehicles up to the 2000 model year while numbers are used for 2001 and newer vehicles. For example, "X" means the 1999 model year, "Y" is the 2000 model year and "1" represents the 2001 model year. The 11th digit is the plant code. Finally, digits 12 - 17 are the unique serial number

 

For some reason I thought 5 meant Fremont. Which is why I got all excited. I have a few friends that worked at NUMMI and always wondered if they helped to build my specific truck.

 

My buddies dad used to work at Nummi before it closed down, and before, that's where most of the Tacomas were being manufactured (mine included). He told me that even though Nummi (in Fremont) had more advanced machinery, the trucks coming out of Mexico had better "quality" numbers

 

You just hella popped all the air outta my potato chip bag, MJ.

 

lol. Just sharing what I know. He ended up retiring from there, but he worked there for decades so I'm pretty sure he knows what he's talking about. Right before Nummi closed, he was in the Tacoma production line

 

Hmmm.. My truck was built in the second week of March and they closed the second week of April. Wonder if he had a "hand" in my truck.

 

I can't say where each individual small part comes from but the beds are built in Mexico, the engines are built in Alabama, cabs in San Antonio, and everything gets assembled in the great state of Tejas.

 

If you're asking me, yes - that's the point I was making.

 

my tacoma was made in baja california and its great

 

My work takes me inside many automotive plants. The plants here in Mexico are second to none. They are new plants and meet the rigorous standards of the manufacturers. Quality control is top notch even with the subcontractors.

In some industries like the food industry, plants that export to the US are manytimes cleaner and put out what IMO is a better quality product interms of sanitary and a food safety point of view. For example the use of food grade lubricants is more prevalent especialy with the large multinational companies. The cleanets plant in this hemisphere can be found here in MX. I can say that because ive seen the good bad and ugly in europe and almost every single country from the tip of Chile (Puerto Montt) all the way up to the USA.



Jobs here in MX are important too, especially considering the close proximity to the USA. Whats good for the Mexican economy is generally good for the USA. There are direct consequences. But to everyone's point its always good to know that US jobs are kept stable with purchases of US products.



Chinese made products are a totally different story.

 

Are the workers in the Mexico plant union?

 

You know -- that is a good question. I dont think there are plant unions per-se but there are organizations that protect workers -- they are the political party variety more than anything else. The recient elections pretty much put the left in its place -- they are border line communist. However, they did come close. There are some serious inequalities here in MX. Its pretty sad. MX is a rich country full of poor people.



In certain respects here in MX the laws protect the workers more than they do in the US but if a worker is a screw-up problem maker out he goes. You just have to follow certain procedures. I can say with out a doubt that in terms of restricting company efforts like they do in the US it is not the case -- they dont have that kind of power at all. The unions in the US exercise way more control over the economic vitality of large companies and decisions that the companies make which hopefully protect the workers rights.



There are some important differences here in MX one of the most important is that there is gov funded medicine which is some of the best, just the lines are long. Plus there are pension plans and gov funded loans for housing which companies also have to contribute to.



In a past life ive done equipment instals in plants in the USA and the rest of Latin America and hands down -- in the USA, it is way more costly/restrictive and more time consuming. One thing that I have seen is that worker safety is not as good compared to the USA. US based companies are very good but ive seen some Korean operated plants which expose workers to very dangerous conditions.



Keep in mind -- i am stating that facts as i see them. I make no claim that the Unions are good or bad. I leave those comments to those who are in the know of all the details and smarter than I am.



Ill find out and send you a PM. This is not the place for those typs of discussions.



Back to the point i was making earlier -- the qualification process of Sub-contactors is very rigorous. Quality control in the plants is top notch here in MX and they use that latest technology and top notch raw materials.

 

Thanks for your input, I appreciate your time.