I used to drive American muscle cars for quite a while when I lived in the States. They were never known for reliability. The issue was not the design (or even conspiracy) but the workmanship and choice of materials. For example, certain parts could have performed better if they were made of metal, but plastic was used instead to reduce costs. The margin of error was also much wider. Parts that would be rejected in countries like Japan were still accepted. It all comes down to the culture of workmanship, where "close enough" and "more profit" often take priority.
For example, when Honda decided to build a plant in the US to manufacture their cars, I already knew those cars would struggle to sell. It has nothing to do with race or anything like that. It is about the culture of workmanship. Now the US is forcing car manufacturers to produce cars in the States using tariffs. That is fine, but the culture needs to change first, and that can take years, starting from elementary school. And even so, no people in the States would sit in the manufacturing sites doing mundane things even with robots assistance. New generations wanted to do things that are more fun like youtuber and playing video games.
