Page 190 - Toyota Under Fire

RESPONSE AND THE ROAD TO RECOVER Y

Toyota vehicles for reliability immediately before the recall crisis
and at the end of the decade, when the alleged declines in quality
and safety occurred:

• In the 2009 J.D. Power Initial Quality Study, Toyota
earned first place in 10 out of 19 categories, more than any
other automaker. The Lexus LX had the fewest problems
of any vehicle on the road. The assembly plant in Higashi-
Fuji, Japan, received the Platinum Plant Quality Award
for producing vehicles yielding the fewest defects and
malfunctions, averaging just 29 problems per 100, while
the industry average in 2009 was 108 problems per 100.*

• In the 2009 J.D. Power three-year vehicle dependability
study, Toyota took first place in 8 of 19 categories, again
more than any other automaker.

• In the Consumer Reports 2009 survey of reliability, Toyota
brands took three of the top five slots.

• The Automotive Leasing Group, which tracks various
measures of a vehicle’s residual value, also tracks customers’
view of the quality of a brand (which influences the resale
value of a used car). Toyota was the top “mainstream”

* The 2010 J.D. Power Initial Quality Study, conducted early in 2010 in the
worst part of the recall crisis, was not so kind to Toyota. The Toyota brand slipped
to a ranking of 21. The head of J.D. Power explained that the study is based on
customer surveys and that the areas in which Toyota had dropped were areas in
which it had had recalls, like an unusual number of complaints about braking
problems in the Prius, and in fact vehicles that were not recalled showed an in-
crease in quality ratings (e.g., Tundra was the highest rated truck for the fifth year
in a row, and Toyota still won the most segment awards of any automaker). He
expected a recovery of the ratings by the next survey, as memories of the negative
publicity continue to fade.

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