Toyota tops reliability survey

WHAT THE? Embattled carmaker Toyota has been named on of the most reliable cars in a US survey.

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Despite having to recall millions of cars due to safety faults and facing billions of dollars in lawsuits, Toyota has ranked among the most reliable vehicles in the US in a recent survey.

The annual dependability survey by JD Power has ranked Toyota, Honda and Ford as the most reliable mainstream brands of cars.

Toyota, which is under siege after recalling more than 8 million vehicles worldwide, came sixth in the JD Power vehicle dependability survey, finishing behind luxury brands Porsche, Lincoln, Buick, Lexus and Mercury.

The maker finished just in front of Japanese rival Honda and US giant Ford, which has steadily improved in recent years.

The JD Power study, which measures the number of problems experienced by car owners in their first three years of ownership, is widely recognised as the most authoritative in the industry.

It measures the "things gone wrong" per 100 vehicles and covers 198 different problems.

Luxury brands Porsche and Mercedes-Benz were the big movers this year, with Porsche taking the top spot after finishing 11th last year, while Mercedes-Benz jumped from 19th to 9th.

Overall, though, European car makers continue to record embarrassing results in the survey. Land Rover finished last out of the 36 brands with 255 problems per 100 vehicles, compared to Porsche's 110.

Volkswagen didn't fare much better, finishing 34th, while Audi, Jaguar, Volvo and BMW all finished below the industry average.

Korean brand Hyundai embarrassed more fancied brands, finishing 11th.

But David Sargent, vice president of global vehicle research for JD Power, says the rankings don't necessarily translate into sales for car makers.

While perception of quality and dependability is the most influential factor in people's new car purchase decisions, some brands that perform well in quality surveys are still avoided by buyers.

Mr Sargent says people still avoid some brands based on outdated perceptions of poor quality that don't match up with reality.

"Producing vehicles with world-class quality is just part of the battle for automakers; convincing customers to believe in their quality is equally as important," he says.

"It takes considerable time to positively change consumer perceptions of quality and dependability - sometimes a decade or more," he says.

Ford and Hyundai still suffered from poor reputations for quality, despite the fact that they ranked above the industry average in the survey.

- © Fairfax NZ News