I remember Ridge Street Audio Sasons - company is located in Indiana, if remember correctly, and they sell direct. At the time I looked it was too big of a "jump" for me but I keep my eyes open. I think I read "Positive Feedback" review. The way they build them I'm surprised it doesn't cost more.
Toyota problem was exactly the same that Ford has now - people were placing all-weather mats on the top of existing mats in spite of manufacturer warning no to do it. I have two Avalons - 14 year old and 9 year old - 1 small defect on each, that's all. Absolute perfection. Hyundai is pretty good now but even many years ago they had 10 years bumper to bumper warranty. To me it is just different sales strategy - nothing else.
One guy at work does a lot of computer repair for friends and he profoundly dislikes Seagate. I found one (Fantom) that had great reviews but another audiogoner had problems. I assume that drive might fail so it needs backup protection. If it fails every few years I don't mind. Chances that all three drives fail at the same time, while two are in storage unpowered, are zero. I payed more attention to heat and noise.
WD used to be the cheapest (and worse) company 20 years ago but it changed. I wouldn't be afraid to buy WD HD now. Processes are better controlled now and for instance SMT assembly made in China will be of same quality as one made in US.
I found some info on Fantom/Micronet. Micronet does not make drives. Here is info from Micronet website:
"MicroNet / Fantom Drives uses only the highest quality disk drives from top-tier hard disk manufacturers such as: Western Digital, Seagate, Hitachi, and Samsung. We carefully vet each model of hard disk we carry to ensure that it meets our rigorous demands for quality and performance. In addition, any disk mechanism we use will meet or exceed the stated specifications for any particular MicroNet or Fantom Drives product."