Toyota Recall

I think this issue is very controversial. American car companies are taking advantage of this recall by advertising that American cars are better than Japanese. I believe this will be very good for the American car companies, but the interesting part is that this recall is due to an ineffective gas pedal that is being manufactured right here in America. All the pedals created in Japan are perfectly fine, which is why Lexus and Scion are uneffected by this recall. This makes me wonder if this recall is showing that Japanese cars are not built to last or if American manufacturing companies are starting to use cheaper material due to the recession.