Cambridge has one of the best reputation among Toyota assembly plants (not preventing the next Corolla to be moved to Mexico, though).
The hatchback (iM) is still from Japan. Not sure but I don't think any sedan is. So you'd have to compare those models.
I know my canadian LE hasn't suffer any assembly glitch.

 

Cars built in Japan have the steering wheel on the correct side. Other than that, I don't see any problems with cars built outside of Japan.:grin:

 

That's something of an urban legend going back to the early 80's.

I don't think it applies today - it PROBABLY was true of Honda in the early 80's.

One thing I will give Toyota credit for is they build the SAME Corolla whether it is built in the USA or Canada.

(The Hyundai Elantra is made in Alabama and Korea, but they are not the same car - not necessarily that one is better than the other, but parts and wire harnesses are different between them, paint colors are different but similar, wiring pinouts may not be the same.)

 

One thing I will give Toyota credit for is they build the SAME Corolla whether it is built in the USA or Canada.

(The Hyundai Elantra is made in Alabama and Korea, but they are not the same car - not necessarily that one is better than the other, but parts and wire harnesses are different between them, paint colors are different but similar, wiring pinouts may not be the same.)

Perhaps with the Corolla, but not with the Rav.

When we got the '15 Rav, we had to verify that it was Canadian before ordering the TVIP module.
It was a direct plug-in no problem... 10 minute job.
There is no way to interface the TVIP to the Japanese Rav4.

 

Thanks for the replies guys. The reason I was a little concerned, was I had a 2013 Hyundai Elantra, and that car was built in the Alabama plant. The car was plagued with widespread issues, and the quality control issues and engine failure issues due to metal debris being left in the engines and steering rack failures was all traced back to issues at the Alabama plant, and the ones built at the Ulsan Korean plant were of far better quality. I will say though, that so far this car seems to be put together far better then the Hyundai

 

Those situations have as much to do with manufacturer organization of work than with plant issues. Toyota still remains hard to beat on that.

 

See below; the Ontario plant has been recognized as the best in North America. If anyone wants a NA Corolla, get it before production moves to Mexico.

http://www.cbc.ca/news/business/ont...toyota-plant-that-lost-corolla-production-rated-best-in-north-america-1.3118835

"J.D. Power's annual quality study...found vehicles produced at the Cambridge plant had 17 defects per 100 vehicles, the best performance in North America."

 

I think most of the Hyundai engine issues were due to bad oil rings, but I was disappointed that they basically didn't change anything - just replaced the bad oil rings with the same part number bad oil rings.

I hadn't heard that it was a USA-only issue, but you could be right - I'm not saying it wasn't either.

 

You are correct on the ring issue. The main issue I was talking about is where they just recalled 500,000 engines, all from the Alabama plant, due to metal debris not being cleaned from the engine during assembly.So they were basically tearing themselves apart from day one. I have friends that are Hyundai techs and they told me the first thing they ask people who are having problems, is does their VIN start with a 5 or a K. 5 meaning it was built in Alabama. and they would tell them that is the source of all of their problems. My 2013 Elantra was at the dealer for over a month while they tore it apart because the thing had been knocking and clacking. not to mention it went through 4 AC compressors in 50k miles. That car was a nightmare. And that s being nice. So far very happy with the Corolla

 

Interesting info.

I'm very interested in the 2017 Hyundai Elantra - but all the cars local to me (Georgia) were built in Alabama.

Hopefully they have worked out most of the issues by now.

(Although the other car I might end up with might be the Hyundai Accent which is only made in Korea - might be a better choice.)

That said - seems fairly hit or miss on the Hyundai-Forums.com - some member put 70K on a AL Elantra with zero issues, so member had 200K miles with zero issues, some members had 4 Accent engines rebuilt in 90K miles ...

 

My Corolla was built in Canada and my good friend just bought an S+ that was built in Mississippi, I believe. There are a surprising number of tiny differences, not necessarily one being better than the other, but differences.

 

My S-Premium is US, plant code "P" but I can't find a reference for that plant.

 

Ya... could be something as simple as the base model Mexican Tacos not being pre-wired from the column to the ECU for cruise.
Same parts, same harness, one connecting link omitted.
I got lucky with a late '07 or early '08 production from Fremont.

 

my S-Plus built in Canada. as noted, there is inventory that comes from the Ole Miss plant. this will change for MY20 when the Mexico plant is producing the next gen Corolla. Toyota definitely switching from Canada; don't know as to the status for the Miss plan.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Toyota_Motor_Manufacturing_Mississippi

 

my S-Plus built in Canada. as noted, there is inventory that comes from the Ole Miss plant. this will change for MY20 when the Mexico plant is producing the next gen Corolla. Toyota definitely switching from Canada; don't know as to the status for the Miss plan.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Toyota_Motor_Manufacturing_Mississippi

Toyota needs two plants in North America to supply enough Corollas for the region, but you never know with the market because things can change. A lot of the car manufacturers are moving cars out of the US because SUVs and trucks make better sense business wise to make in the US because of the wages.

 

Odd... VIN shows plant code P, but door label says TMMMS

 

I take that back, P is likely the internal code for the Mississippi plant (Toyota Motor Mfg MS), so you are right. G is for model year 2016 cars.

For Camrys there's two: U is for Kentucky and R is for Subaru of Indiana.

 

Mine is TMMC, VIN begins in 2T1.. - I don't know how many of the differences are related to the difference between 2014 and 2015. But one example is that my car has an "SRS AIRBAG" label on the hinge cover on the passenger seatback (where it connects to the seat bottom). This label is for the seat cushion airbag. Her car has the same airbag but no label.

The door lock/unlock switches are very slightly different. The recline handle on the passenger seats are slightly different. Her car is a 2014 with 47000 miles and mine is a 2015 with 36500 miles. Her dash does not have any visible airbag weak points, but you can see them on mine. Strange.

 

If you know just a little bit about japan culture you know everything is better build there. That a fact , the « kaizen » way of thinking is a key in the quality.

 

Harakiri isn't an option, it gives more incentive for the Japanese to build better quality vehicles. What happens in canada if one screws up, no more poutine for lunch? lol

 

Dang....you guys revived a 9 year old thread.

Over the years I have found a few defects on our J vin cars....from paint defects to assembly defects.

Our 2001 Japanese built RAV4 was a train wreck of assembly related defects. Screws loose, wires not routed correctly, fuel door release cable not in it's clips. I guess it was pulled off line for repairs at the factory and not put back together correctly. That certainly explained why it was such a rattle trap. I noticed all of this when I had to remove the the rear garnishes to route the wire harness for the tow hitch.

My '06 Scion xA had paint sags in the engine compartment and hatch area. I also found a screw under the driver's seat. I never found where it could have come from. I guess it was dropped by an assembly line worker.

Our 2012 RAV4 had some wavy sheet metal under the left rear window.

Just recently when washing my '22 Hatch I noticed my passenger side taillight rattle when I accidentally hit it with my hand. I found both the mounting screws not shot down. I guess it was like that all along and I hadn't noticed it.

None of these were design or parts supplier issues. These were all assembly plant defects.

On a somewhat related note....our '22 Mississippi built SE Sedan is a much "tighter" feeling, rattle-free vehicle compared to our Japanese built '22 Hatch. Our Canadian built '19 LE is just a so-so car. The 11th gen was the pinnacle of Toyota's cost cutting. It's a rather cheap feeling car all the way around. Nothing really assembly related to speak of. Just cheap materials and lots of squeaks and rattles. But it's been reliable. So there’s that.