Auto on Info  May 2004

Toyota's Reliability Continues to Advance: Gap with Big Three Grows

Toyota Motor Corporation's Reliability Index average advanced for the ninth consecutive year, although by only one basis point. As Honda Motor Company's Reliability Index average fell; Toyota's advance gave it clear dominance of the Index. The following table gives the Reliability Index averages for the major auto manufacturers selling products in North America.

Table I: The Reliability Index Averages for the Major Auto Manufacturers Selling Products in North America, Together with Rank
Rank	Manufacturer	1996-1997 Reliability Index Average
1.	Toyota Motor Corporation	.60
2.	Honda Motor Company	.48
3.	Subaru (Fuji Heavy Industries, Ltd.)	.40
4.	Nissan Motor Company	.32
5.	Mazda Motor Corporation	.28
6.	Suzuki Motor Corporation	.15
7.	BMW AG	.13
8.	Mercedes-Benz	.08
9.	Ford Motor Company	0.00
10.	AB Volvo	-.16
11.	Chrysler	-.23
12.	General Motors Corporation	-.24
13.	Volkswagen AG	-.47

The Reliability Index is based on reported serious problems for vehicles that are six to eight years old. (See Methodology.) The most recent pair of model years for which such data are available is the 1996-1997 model year pair.

Toyota Motor Corporation manufactured seven of the top ten models, per the Reliability Index. The Lexus LS400 lead the group of ten, with a Reliability Index value of .77, the highest value ever attained by any model in the ten-year history of the Index.

Honda manufactured the remaining three of the top ten motor vehicle models. The following table lists the top ten models, together with their respective rank and Reliability Index value.

Table II: The  Top Ten Models, per the Reliability Index, Together with Rank
Rank	Motor Vehicle Model	1996-1997 Reliability Index Value
1.	Toyota's Lexus LS400	.77
2.	Honda Odyssey	.73
3.	Toyota T100 pickup	.69
4.	Toyota Corolla	.65
5.	Toyota 4Runner	.65
6.	Honda Civic	.63
7.	Toyota Tacoma pickup	.63
8.	Toyota RAV4	.60
9.	Honda's Acura Integra	.58
10.	Toyota's Lexus ES300	.58

Honda's Reliability Index average for 1996-1997 fell from that of 1995-1996, due to the inclusion of the Honda Passport, a rebadged product of Isuzu Motors, a General Motors affiliate. Without the rebadged Isuzu, Honda too would have had a ninth consecutive year of advancing Reliability Index averages.

Neither the Toyota Camry nor the Honda Accord made it into the top ten, the first such occurrence in the Reliability Index's ten-year history.

The bottom ten motor vehicle models, per the Index, were manufactured by one of the Big Three - General Motors, Ford, or Chrysler - or Volkswagen. The bottom ten are twelve in number; reliability values often cluster at the bottom end. These models are listed, with their respective 1996-1997 Reliability Index values, in the following table.

Table III: The  Bottom Ten Models, per the Reliability Index
Motor Vehicle Model	1996-1997 Reliability Index Value
Chrysler's Dodge Caravan V6	-.38
Chrysler's Plymouth Voyager V6	-.38
Chrysler's Dodge Grand Caravan V6 2-wheel drive	-.38
Chrysler's Dodge Intrepid	-.38
Volkswagen Golf	-.40
Chrysler's Dodge Neon	-.42
Ford Windstar	-.46
Volkswagen Passat V6	-.54
General Motors' GMC Jimmy	-.54
General Motors' Pontiac Grand Am	-.54
General Motors' Chevrolet Astro Van	-.58
General Motors' GMC Safari Van	-.58

The Reliability Index gap between Toyota and the Big Three continues to grow. The following chart depicts how far the Big Three have fallen, relative to Toyota.

Source for Reliability Index values and averages: AOI's Table I