Consumer Reports Crowns Toyota Most Reliable Brand

This year, Toyota topped corporate cousin Lexus in reliability — but there’s still work to do with the all-new Tundra.

Toyota is known for producing vehicles with sunrise-like reliability, and a new ranking from industry icon Consumer Reports backs that up. In this year’s survey, the Japanese giant came in at the top of the list, even beating luxury division Lexus, which came in second. For those keeping score, that’s up two places from last year. Notably, there was only one non-Japanese company in the top five — and it was BMW.

The Motoren Werke jumped an impressive ten places from last year, and is now third. The move must feel especially sweet, as arch rival Mercedes-Benz dove five places, and landed dead last in 24th. The Mercedes drop wasn’t even the year’s most dramatic —that belongs to Chevrolet, which fell a whopping ten points. Overall, it was Toyota in first, Lexus in second, BMW in third, Mazda in fourth. Honda’s fifth place finish was unchanged from last year.

Overall, the survey was great news for Toyota, though the fine print took some of the luster off the crown. While drilling down into the company’s lineup, both the Tundra and RAV4 Prime took some heat.

Every Toyota model, save two, has above- or well-above-average reliability. The brand is topped by the Toyota Corolla Cross, which is among the most reliable models in the survey. But the brand’s redesigned full-sized pickup truck, the Tundra, is among the less-reliable vehicles in the survey. The RAV4 Prime plug-in hybrid came in at average.

While the Tundra has been named the safest truck in America, if you’ve been following the rollout, this revelation likely won’t come as surprise. A quick search of “new Tundra problems” returns some widespread issues, including ill-fitting weather stripping, flakey infotainment systems, and wonky panel fitment. More serious issues, including problems with the turbo wastegates, have also been reported. So have you had any problems with your new Tundra? If you have, or just want to detail your ownership experience so far, hit me up! 

Photos: Toyota

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