I refer to the letter Toyota can teach Malaysia a thing or two .

Dr Hsu Dar Ren's letter singing the praises of Toyota for its worldwide recall and up-to-the- minute ‘buck stops here’ customer care is misplaced, to say the least. Any car enthusiast knows that Toyota quality has been slipping since 2002, when the previous generation of Camrys were introduced.

Since then, the highly respected Consumer Union in the US has rated the Camry with only average reliability.

Meanwhile, Toyota has consistently been arrogant and very slow to admit culpability for any defect. The nonsense about floor mats being the cause of stuck accelerators is one example.

Another is the typically Japanese refrain from some Toyota top managers: ‘Oh, that part was made in the US. This would never happen in a Japanese factory’.

This is not the thing to say to an American public which has suffered some fatalities due to Toyota defects. Moreover, the parts in question have

a. also been manufactured in Canada, and

b. been manufactured according to Toyota standards on a worldwide basis.

If one thinks Japanese manufacturing is perfect, one must remember the Mitsubishi quality debacle. The latter company hangs on by a thread; I wonder what will happen to Toyota.

Meanwhile, Ford makes some terrifically reliable models such as the Fusion and until recently the Crown Victoria and Mercury Grand Marquis, both highly popular stalwarts of the extremely harsh climate in Saudi Arabia.

Sorry, I am not impressed any longer by Toyota's halo though I do drive a Japanese model (an Infiniti Q45, a Nissan product) as I am not a knee-jerk nationalist.