People who ride the bleeding edge of technology are more forgiving of technological issues with that technology. That's true. However, the technology in question is not bleeding edge. For the American automotive industry, maybe, but not when compared to phones or computers or even other countries' automobiles. If you look at the example about iPhones having had issues, the issue was identified and fixed within a month or two. If you spent 300k on a brand new house, would you tolerate the roof leaking and wiring issues? Probably not. You might expect a couple things because of new construction, but you'd lose your patience very quickly if they weren't properly fixed the first time.
There used to be an old joke in IT about how if Microsoft made cars, they would periodically just stop, on your drive to work, and you'd just start it back up and continue on as if nothing happened. In reality, people that worked in the industry started to get really annoyed at the blue screen of death. So much so, that Microsoft invested a LOT of money in to rewriting things so this didn't happen. The new OSes are MUCH better because customers were getting angry and they were losing market share to other operating systems like Linux.
Let's face it, pickups are these companies' bread and butter. They have the highest markups too. Even so, they lack basic treatments that exist on cars selling for 20k. Why not galvanize the body panels for rust prevention? What about treating the frame with a better coat of paint? Under my seat and behind my dash? Nothing but white metal. How much would a single coat of paint really cost? There's no excuse to see rust after a few years and holes before you hit 10 years in this day and age. While these companies have made some excellent strides in some places, there are obviously corners being cut that shouldn't be. And it shouldn't be tolerated or it will continue. 50k is a lot of money to most people, they should expect a lot in return.
