Finally, your average car owner in the US is not the best when it comes to maintenance and will run an engine long past its oil-change point.
Manufacturers themselves recommend crazy long oil change intervals, with 10K or longer, because, you guessed it CAFE and EPA regulations count oil changes against your lifetime emissions.
Automatic start/stop? Did they actually engineer the starter and electrical system to compensate? I have my doubts
They actually did in every case I looked. The next question is how much a replacement starter costs on such car. It cost A LOT.
The weird thing about the USA is that inexpensive new cars don't sell well.
They do sell well in recession, which we are now in.
specifically not cleaning out shavings and debris
This explanation was discredited in every case. That reason was provided to avoid stop-sale order by NHTSA.
the reason gas prices have been stable is we keep pushing for more fuel economy keeping demand down.
Absolute bullshit. a) Gas prices have no been stable; b) It is supply side that largely fluctuated, not demand; c) The biggest contributor to lower gas prices is the U.S. shale revolution, where a new technology allowed US-based production to increase.
Have you reconsidered a computer career?