Toyota is entrenched in its worst crisis and rival Honda just announced a large-scale recall of popular vehicles, but the two Japanese nameplates scored the highest in more categories than other car makers in the latest dependability study by J.D. Power and Associates.
J.D. Power’s Vehicle Dependability Study surveys owners of three-year-old models that were purchased new. They are asked to identify problems that have emerged in the previous 12 months.
U.S. and Korean carmakers – “still trying to shake a perceived quality stigma” – finished above the industry average, including Cadillac, Ford, Hyundai, Lincoln and Mercury, J.D. Power said.
“It takes considerable time to positively change consumer perceptions of quality and reliability — sometimes a decade or more — so it is vital for manufacturers to continually improve quality and also to convince consumers of these gains,” said David Sargent, vice president of Automotive Research at J.D. Power and Associates.
Toyota continued to perform well in long-term dependability and garnered four segment awards — more than any other nameplate, J.D. Power said. Toyota’s Highlander, Prius, Sequoia, and Tundra placed first in their categories — midsize multi activity, compact car, large multi activity vehicle and large pickup, respectively.
Honda received three segment awards for the CR-V, Fit and Ridgeline.
The rest of the brands that topped their categories included mostly U.S. and German brands: Lincoln captured two awards for the Mark LT and MKZ. In addition, Audi, BMW, Buick, Cadillac, Chevrolet, Ford, Lexus, Mazda, Mercedes-Benz, and Mercury each received a model segment award.
However, most of the results for the vehicle dependability study were gathered before Toyota initiated is recent recalls of millions of vehicles for primarily unintended acceleration issues.
Honda this week announced a recall of about 344,000 Odyssey and 68,000 Element vehicles from the 2007-2008 model years for brake pedals that feel “soft” and may regress closer to the floor of the vehicles over time.
The J.D. Power study measured “problems per 100 vehicles” — a straight average of the number of problems experienced per 100 vehicles. A lower score reflects higher quality.
The problems were grouped into eight categories: vehicle exterior; the driving experience; features, controls and displays; audio, entertainment and navigation; seats; heating, ventilation and cooling; vehicle interior; engine and transmission.
The 2010 VDS also found that owners are replacing fewer broken vehicle parts, compared to last year’s study. Vehicle dependability is directly related to component replacement, J.D. Power said.
Say what you like or bash Toyota how much you like, they still make the best quality cars money can buy. While the Korean currently relies on cheap low quality cars for the masses, the US firms rely solely on state to bash the Japanese to compete with the Japanese superior quality.
US is a sad place full of ambulance chasers and people trying to compensate their inability to get to Hollywood by calling 911 while driving cas on the highway.
, Yes, they can.
obviously the idiots who continue to buy the ludicrous notion that japanese cars are of superior quality, despite this having been demonstrably untrue for at least fifteen years now, are not going to let obvious realities and major recalls affect their brainwashed views. toyota’s problems can’t possibly be real; it’s obviously a massive “state” conspiracy.