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Consumer Reports' 2007 "Annual Car Reliability Survey" is out, and Toyota has declined slightly from its established position as unimpeachable quality king, while Ford's domestic brands have improved.
The independent product review think tank, based in Yonkers, N.Y., says the V6 version of Camry, the top-selling mid-sized car in America, and the four-wheel-drive V8 version of the Tundra pickup--both of which were redesigned this year--now rate below average in Consumer Reports' predicted reliability rating. The all-wheel-drive version of the Lexus GS sedan also received a below-average rating, and therefore no longer makes CR's "Recommended" list.
The four-cylinder and hybrid versions of the Camry and rear-drive version of the GS scored above-average in reliability, and will continue to be recommended.
While the consultancy says that Toyota, Lexus and Scion are still third overall in reliability among all automakers, behind only Honda and Subaru, the firm says it will no longer recommend any new or redesigned Toyota-built models without reliability data on a specific design. Until now, says CR, new and redesigned Toyota models were recommended, even if CR didn't have reliability data, because of the automaker's excellent track record.
"If Toyota returns to its previous record of outstanding overall reliability, CR may resume this practice. Typically, CR will only recommend a vehicle if the magazine has at least one year of reliability data for that specific model," says the not-for-profit company.
The survey is also giving kudos to Ford Motor--saying that Ford reliability is the best it has been in years, with 41 of 44 Ford, Lincoln and Mercury models scoring average or better in predicted reliability in the survey. Standouts are Ford Fusion and Mercury Milan sedans, and two-wheel-drive Ford F-150 V6; Ford Edge and Lincoln MKX, as well as the freshened Ford Expedition and Lincoln Navigator, were all average or above.
David Cole, chairman of the University of Michigan's Ann Arbor, Mich.-based Center for Automotive Research, says the results may conceal what he says is a near parity among automakers. "Fifteen years ago there were real measurable differences, but there is not a whole lot of difference in quality between products today."
He points out that the fact of the shrinking difference among competing brands' vehicle quality has led some consultancies to try different approaches. "This is why J.D. Power created its APEAL study," he says. The APEAL product (which stands for automotive performance, execution and layout) measures, generally, what automakers have done right.
"They created APEAL because differentiation between things gone wrong has fallen off the radar. If you are buying a car, and if you have roughly comparable quality and reliability," he says, "the differentiation that determines vehicle choice is between discrete features or lifestyle requirements."
He also argues that the narrowing differences are making CR less relevant to consumers. "They have a lot of influence, but not as much as they did. The danger is that if they put so much continuing emphasis on older factors they will lose sight of what is more important to consumers now: the 'wow' factor."
That said, Cole concedes that the issue may be critical to Toyota, because so much of its brand equity rests on consumer perception of quality. "On a proportional basis, they would be more concerned than other companies because they have had so much historic emphasis on quality. When you have hung your hat on quality as a primary attribute, Consumer Reports' suggesting things are changing--that is a problem."
From: http://publications.mediapost.com/index....p;art_aid=69329
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Oct. 16 (Bloomberg) -- Toyota Motor Corp.'s vehicle quality declined while Ford Motor Co., passed by the Japanese automaker this year as second in U.S. sales, showed improvement, Consumer Reports said in its annual reliability survey.
Toyota's redesigned V-6 Camry sedan, four-wheel-drive V-8 Tundra pickup truck and all-wheel-drive Lexus GS sedan were rated below average and were dropped from the ``recommended'' list, the Yonkers, New York-based magazine said in a statement today. Toyota fell to third from first among automakers.
Ford was the best among U.S.-based companies, with 41 of 44 Ford, Lincoln and Mercury brand vehicles rated average or better. The results reinforce Ford's efforts to boost quality after glitches with new-vehicle introductions early in this decade. The automaker hasn't increased its U.S. market share since 1995 and posted a record $12.6 billion loss last year.
At Ford, ``the reliability of their cars has steadily improved over the years, and is showing consistency,'' David Champion, senior director of the magazine's auto test center, said in the statement.
Toyota is ``growing in terms of the number of vehicles they have coming out,'' he said in an interview. ``It may be size.''
The Consumer Reports results cover 1998 through 2007 models and are based on reader surveys done earlier this year. The magazine takes the surveys along with vehicle tests to decide which models to recommend. Consumer Reports' statisticians and engineers use the data to predict reliability of 2008 vehicles.
Toyota in this year's survey was behind Honda Motor Co. and Fuji Heavy Industries Ltd.'s Subaru. Consumer Reports didn't give additional details, such as Ford's ranking.
Toyota Response
Jim Lentz, executive vice president of Toyota's U.S. sales unit, said he will study Consumer Reports' data. Toyota's own information doesn't show deterioration, he said.
``We look at warranty data, and the warranty numbers have actually been falling quite rapidly in the last three or four years,'' he said in an interview. ``Everything we're seeing indicates that quality is in fact getting better.''
Toyota said in a statement that it accounted for 44 percent of the 39 vehicles on the magazine's ``most reliable'' list.
The magazine said it's recommending the four-cylinder and gasoline-electric hybrid versions of Toyota City, Japan-based Toyota's Camry and the rear-drive version of its Lexus GS.
Consumer Reports said it previously recommended redesigned Toyota models even without enough reliability data ``because of the automaker's excellent track record.'' The revamped vehicles now won't be considered until it accumulates sufficient data.
The magazine said 93 percent of Ford models from its Ford, Lincoln and Mercury U.S. brands scored average or better for reliability. That compares to 49 percent for General Motors Corp. and 67 percent for Chrysler LLC.
Customer Feedback
Employees at Ford factories are reviewing feedback from consumers ``to make sure every customer issue is fixed at the plant,'' Mike Hardie, a global quality manager at the Dearborn, Michigan-based company, said in an interview.
Ford has reduced the number of warranty repairs by 50 percent during the past three years, Hardie said. He declined to provide specific figures.
The Ford models rated below average were the V-8 versions of the Explorer and Mountaineer sport-utility vehicles and the Lincoln Mark LT pickup truck.
Consumer Reports presented its findings at an Automotive Press Association meeting in Detroit today.
From: http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=20601101&sid=azTjZff7A9gA
