Consumers love ratings, especially when they're buying big-ticket items such as cars.
Toyotas have been at or near the top of popular ratings such as J.D. Power and Consumer Reports for years.
So after recent reports about faulty gas pedals, interfering floor mats and anti-lock brake glitches revealed flaws in Toyota's vaunted image for quality, it seems reasonable to ask whether car-shoppers should take those ratings with a grain of salt.
The Japanese auto giant has recalled millions of cars, trucks and SUVs worldwide, and it halted production and sale of some models while problem parts were replaced.
If you'd asked most car-oriented consumers where to rank Toyota before this, they'd probably have put it at No. 1 in quality and reliability.
Did the ratings experts get blindsided by Toyota's fall from grace? Not at all, they say. The signs were there.
"We have seen that Toyota's stellar reliability reputation has been waning in past years," says David Champion, Consumer Reports' director of automotive testing.
"In 2007, we actually pulled the automatic recommendation of brand-new Toyota vehicles."
Recommendations are given based on past experience with a car maker's previous models compiled from the magazine's consumer database.
But in 2007, three Toyota models - the Camry sedan with V-6 engine, all-wheel-drive Lexus GS sedan and Toyota Tundra V-8 four-by-four pickup - all finished below average in the magazine's ratings.
"From that data we basically pulled the automatic recommendations from Toyota vehicles," says Champion. "Since then it has improved but the reliability of their vehicles is not the wonder that it once was."
Champion says the fit and finish of newer Toyotas is not up to past models. The newest Yaris subcompact tested near the bottom, beaten by competitors such as the Honda Fit, Nissan Versa and Korean upstart Kia Rio.
The mid-size Camry, once the icon of reliable family wheels, today is only mid-pack on the magazine's index, with the Ford Fusion rated as the most reliable model in the family sedan segment.
So some evidence Toyota was slipping seems to have been there.
Yet J.D. Power and Associates' latest three-year dependability study, which covers 2007-model cars, gives Toyota good grades.
"Toyota in fact generated four segment award-winners, more than any other nameplate," says Darren Slind, who manages J.D. Power's Canadian operation.
"It had the best three-year quality in the segments that the Highlander (SUV) competes in, the Prius, the Sequoia and the Tundra on the truck side."
Recalls don't factor directly into surveys such as J.D. Power and Consumer Reports. While their methodologies differ, both ask vehicle owners for detailed information about their first-hand experiences with the product.
J.D. Power's best-known ratings are the initial-quality survey, which asks buyers how they feel about their purchases after 90 days, and the detailed, three-year dependability study - the latest issued in March covering 52,000 owners in the United States.
There's no specific question about recalls on either survey, says Slind, but they might colour owners' responses.
"It would be not unexpected that, if a consumer has been through one or more recalls on a Toyota vehicle through the early part of 2010, that may impact their feeling or their perception of issues with the vehicle," he says.
Recalls should not be poison, the ratings experts point out. They're a sign an auto maker is responding to problems, some of which may be minor.
Toyota's initial quality ratings remain above average, says Slind, but there is evidence the company's troubles may not be over.
In a survey of Canadians' buying intentions, fewer people who said they were in the market for a new vehicle in the next 12 months were putting Toyota at the top of their list, compared with last year.
"We've seen a slip of just over two percentage points," says Slind.
The company has tried to counter that with a public recommitment to quality, coupled with aggressive marketing programs that offer low-interest financing, option packages and even cash in the U.S. market.
Canadian sales have remained strong, so the plan may be working, and Slind believes Toyota's customer base won't abandon it wholesale.
"At the end of the day most consumers are quite pragmatic about it and they know that Toyota has built this reputation for quality over decades," he says.
"Toyota's reputation will obviously suffer but I don't think it's irreparable in terms of long-term."
Champion also thinks Toyota is in a good position to bounce back.
"When you look at Toyota as a manufacturer and all the vehicles they produce, they're still one of the best manufacturers out there," he says. "Their reliability over the long term is still (good)."
"If Toyota go back to doing what they do best, which is making very good, average family sedans and vehicles, I think they'll be back on top again."