Tundra Wins JD Power Vehicle Dependability Award 6 Years In A Row
Jason Lancaster | Mar 18, 2011 | Comments 10
For the 6th time in as many years, the Toyota Tundra has won the JD Power Vehicle Dependability award in the large truck category. According to the JD Power website, the Tundra came in first with a rating of 4.5 out of 5, the F-150 came in second with 4 out of 5, and the Ram 1500 came in 3rd with a 3.5 out of 5 rating.
Amazingly, GM’s trucks had different dependability scores despite being essentially identical (the Chevy scored 3.5 out of 5, the GMC just 3 out of 5). It’s worth noting here that JD Power’s award is based on vehicle surveys, which, like any metric, has some limitations…but more on that in a minute.
Here’s a complete description of the JD power process, as well as some funny quotes from Ford, Dodge, and GM truck owners who just can’t accept Toyota’s dominance.
The JD Power Dependability Award Isn’t Perfect
If you’ve ever wondered how the award works, JD Power’s press release has a nice explanation:
The study, which measures problems experienced during the past 12 months by original owners of three-year-old (2008 model year) vehicles, includes 202 different problem symptoms across all areas of the vehicle. Overall dependability is determined by the level of problems experienced per 100 vehicles (PP100), with a lower score reflecting higher quality….The 2011 Vehicle Dependability Study is based on responses from more than 43,700 original owners of 2008 model-year vehicles after three years of ownership
Surveys are reasonably accurate in large numbers, but you have to wonder how many of the 43,700 owners surveyed were GMC owners, Ram 1500 owners, etc. It stands to reason that some survey results are going to be more precise than others, and the fact that GMC and Chevy have different dependability scores means that their method has a little variance.
However, this variance doesn’t mean JD Power’s methods should be completely discounted…but they should be considered carefully. Before trusting JD Power survey results, it might be a good idea to check Consumer Reports (which uses a similar method), Edmunds.com dependability ratings from Identifix, etc.
The idea is, no one should believe the results from any one quality study…but consistent results across all studies should be trusted.
For the last few years, vehicle quality studies from Consumer Reports, JD Power, etc. have all said that the Tundra is a quality award winner. That level of consistency is key to figuring out which truck (or trucks) are best.
Ford, GM, and Ram Owners Express Disbelief
Reading the comments on the PickupTrucks.com story about this award is hilarious. It seems that many of the most passionate “domestic” truck owners are having a hard time accepting the fact that the Tundra is such a dependable truck.
It appears that Mr. Akio Toyoda paid off Mr. J.D. Power for this one.
Really? The Ford Fusion won a dependability award ahead of Toyota’s best-selling Camry…seems like that would have been the award to buy since the Camry represents such a large portion of Toyota’s sales. Here’s another:
They probably rank as reliable because 99.99% of them never do any real work. (not that they could do much work).
There are thousands of pictures of Tundras hauling and towing – guess they were all photo-shopped!
JD Power is full of bs – the domestic 3 are the best and that is all i will say about that!!!!!
That comment is funny for two reasons. First, it made me laugh because the Toyota is more “domestic” than all the other trucks on the market (see 2010 Tundra most American half-ton). Second, the “that’s all I have to say about that” line reminds me of Forest Gump…nuff’ said.
Finally, we have this little gem:
Ratings are like statistics, you can twist them and gleen what you want out of them. They could say that Toyota, Ford and Dodge are superior to GM and it still wouldn’t make me buy a jap, ford or dodge over a Chevy…I would rather push a Chevy than drive a ford.
So JD Power is manipulating facts to make Chevy look bad, but even if they aren’t this person would rather buy an unreliable truck…Wow. How does a person type this without realizing that they’ve made an incredibly moronic statement?
Maybe it’s the same guy who managed this little trick:
Anyway, haters gotta hate, right? Toyota has done a fantastic job of building full-size trucks for years. The question is, how many of these awards do they have to win to finally start stealing big market share from Ford, GM, and Dodge?
Filed Under: Tundra News
If there’s a bright side to that statement it’s… At least he’s loyal, maybe? funny vid.
There are just people out there that say “I’m a Ford guy” or “Chevy guy” etc. even if the said company makes a steaming pile of crap. I own a Tundra and love it, in fact it is the 4th Toyota I have had first hand experience with. But I don’t consider myself a “Toyota guy”, I buy whatever is the best product for my uses and I look at reliability, cost, features, and overall track record of the company. If Toyota stated making crap I wouldn’t buy one even though I’m on my 4th.
And just for the record cause I know someone will sling mud, I’m on my 4th by choice not because they broke, all are still on the road.
My current 09 Tundra @ 13,000 miles
My current daily driver which is a company vehicle, 04 Tacoma with 200,000 miles and still kicking. I just did the plugs; they were the same ones from 200,000 miles ago! And Cats.
My grandfathers 04 Tacoma, no repairs and its well over 100,000 miles
And my wife’s old Camery that we sold to a friend, she hit 180,000 in it and just had to put a new starter in, that’s it! No other work has been done to it beside regular maintenance.
Suck it up big three its just the way it is! Go TOYOTA!
Me too, well said. Been chevy fan for past 20 years. The last few years 2005-2007, got sick of the crappy little parts falling off my new chevies going back to dealer for little things should’ve been done right the first time from factory. Made switch in 2007 to the finally ‘full’ size tundra and haven’t looked back since although my 07′ RAV4 3.5L V6 had majory water pump and head gasket issues all under 26K (lemon I guess. Proves you can have a bad apple out of 1,000’s. With chevy it was like a bad apple 1 out of every 2 though. If the new 2007 to current tundra wasn’t superior as of now to the big 3, I wouldn’t have bought it. Enough said.
Since there are no true domestic auto makers anymore, I’m not sure why anyone continues to make comments defending “American made”. Sounds like most of the comments from the “big three” lovers are more about racism than trucks. Third Tundra for me.
@LazerJ
I dont know if I would go the “Racism” rout. I think is more about ignorance, unions, and old bad habbits like “Cause my daddy owned one”. Everyone has or known a parent or grand parent that drove a Chevy or Dodge or Ford back when they were made by good hard working americans. and I think “new” people buying these trucks just dont bother to do the research to see where the money is going and who acutally put the truck together in todays world.
And another for some reasons people think cause its made by union guys its somehow better…I fail to see how something made by union labor alone is somehow better.
and finaly I think alot of people just dont care and they buy what they like.
[…] is more on that: Tundra Wins JD Power Vehicle Dependability Award 6 Years In A Row | Tundra Headquarters __________________ '10 CM SR5 4×2, S.A. Built & Purchased Sept '09, 5.7L, Sandy Beach […]
At 107,315 miles on my 07 CM, and it just made a round trip of 2,000 miles at 75-85mph I really can’t complain. The funny thing I got 17.5mpg at those speeds. Got home in less than 12 hours on the back trip. Even though I dropped $4k for a rebuilt tranny I have to look back at all the Chevy’s I owned since I claimed to be a Chevy guy. I had to rebuild 3 engines and 1 tranny. Two of the engines I paid for to be rebuilt and I rebuilt the last one. Tranny was paid for with a replacement/rebuilt one. Come to think of it that 77 Buick had 2 engine rebuilts and a tranny replacement.
Toyota, Honda, and Recently Ford have embraced the quality = quantity sales model. If you make it, they will buy it. Intelligent people want dependable vehicles. Now we have the Hyundai/Kia monster on the scene and they will take a chunk out of everyone in the long term. Quality is king.
I have seen a Tundra do this dance on the road and not on a test track…
http://barrysacks5.com/
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