Toyota suffers setback in reliability rankings
Consumer Reports: Automaker is No. 3
By Rick Popely | Tribune staff reporter
October 17, 2007
After three straight months of sales declines, the defections of three top executives and stinging criticism from environmentalists, one of the top automakers in the U.S. received more bad news Tuesday: Its reliability ratings slipped at influential Consumer Reports magazine.
The company: General Motors? Ford?
Nope. Toyota, which recently passed Ford for second place in U.S. sales and is preparing to mark its 50th year in the U.S. on Oct. 31.
The latest blow is that two popular Toyota models, the Tundra full-size pickup and V-6 Camry sedan, were rated below average in reliability in Consumer Reports’ annual survey of owners. The all-wheel-drive Lexus GS, a low-volume luxury sedan, also got a D grade.
So, the influential magazine withdrew its recommended ratings for those models and will not recommend new or redesigned Toyotas until it has reliability data from owners.
“This probably comes under the heading of when it rains, it pours,” said Toyota corporate communications manager Mike Michels.
Those black marks come on the heels of three months of sales declines after months of steady gains and the defections of Jim Press, the highest-ranking American at Toyota; Lexus chief Jim Farley; and Deborah Wahl Meyer, who left Lexus in August to head Chrysler’s marketing.
And last week environmental groups blasted Toyota for opposing a U.S. Senate bill that would require all vehicles to get 35 miles per gallon by 2020. Toyota favors a House proposal that calls for separate standards for cars and trucks ranging from 32 to 35 m.p.g. by 2022.
“We’re a little surprised by the [reliability] ratings, especially on Camry. Our warranty claims on Camry are the lowest they’ve ever been,” Michels said. The company does not disclose the number of claims or the cost of fixing them.
The only mechanical problem Michels acknowledged on Tundra was replacing faulty camshafts on “a few dozen” early versions. However, Consumer Reports automotive testing director David Champion said owners complained about Tundra’s four-wheel-drive system and the 6-speed automatic transmission on the V-6 Camry. He said consumers cited major repairs to or replacement of the latter, though he added the magazine will require more research to determine specific reasons. The reliability ratings were derived from survey responses from 1.3 million readers.
“It’s the first time we’ve seen three models from Toyota slip below average,” Champion said, adding that he couldn’t say whether Toyota’s lapse is related to the company’s rapid growth. “It does coincide with their push to become the largest manufacturer.”
Toyota passed GM in global sales this year, and in the U.S. sales grew 46 percent in the last five years, to 2.54 million vehicles in 2006 from 1.74 million in 2001. Some analysts say Toyota’s rapid expansion has stretched its engineering and manufacturing resources too thin to maintain its vaunted quality.
“It’s fair to say this is partly due to growing pains. With that explosive growth there are more opportunities for things to go wrong,” said Lincoln Merrihew, senior vice president of market research firm TNS Automotive. He added that Toyota operates “with a relatively lean organization.”
Tundra also is an all-new model, and one of the two plants where it is built, in San Antonio, is new and has inexperienced workers. All of that, Merrihew said, can hurt quality.
Toyota is still in good shape. U.S. sales are up 3.8 percent for the calendar year, while GM’s are down 6.6 percent, and Ford’s are off 13 percent. Parent company Toyota Motor Corp. earned a record $13.7 billion last year, while GM lost $2 billion, and Ford lost a record $12.6 billion.
Besides, 17 of 39 vehicles rated “most reliable” by Consumer Reports’ were Toyota, Lexus or Scion models. Among manufacturers, Toyota ranked third, behind Honda and Subaru.
Ford did best among domestics, with 41 of 44 models ranked average or better. The Ford Fusion, Mercury Milan and Ford F-150 made the “most reliable” list.
One GM model was rated “most reliable,” the Pontiac Vibe (a vehicle shared with Toyota), and 13 were “least reliable,” the most among manufacturers.
