Originally Posted By: spk2000
They will make up for it on cost of a new car going up as long as the market will sustain it. New cars are quite expensive especially if you add all the things you would really want to have.
New cars are dirt cheap, especially when you consider all of the toys they come with as base equipment.
There was a day when you actually paid extra for things like air conditioning, power windows, power door locks, a tilt steering column, a fob for remote unlock, a security system, a CD player and the list goes on.
We paid about 17K new for our '99 Accord 5spd sedan. We paid about 19K for our '12 Accord and it is an automatic and has a CD player, remote lock/unlock, a security system as well as a power driver's seat and alloy wheels.
It also has a timing chain engine, which will save us a few hundred bucks at 100K or so as well as more power in a much more spacious car that yields about the same fuel economy in typical use.
All in all, new cars are quite a bargain as compared to their earlier iterations.
WRT to Takata and liability for airbag replacements, that's the OEM's problem, just as it always has been. The demise of a supplier in no way excuses an OEM from liability to complete a recall.