Toyota responds to Ford's new initial quality ads

Toyota responds to Ford's new initial quality ads

Filed under: Etc., Marketing/Advertising, Ford, Toyota

Anybody who has watched more than 30 minutes of television the past couple weeks has likely seen Ford's new ads claiming that the automaker has caught up to Toyota and Honda with regards to initial quality. Toyota certainly has, and it apparently doesn't like the Blue Oval's boastful tone.On Toyota's Open Road blog, Mike Michels seems taken aback at the claim, stating that the initial quality survey Ford cites was commissioned by the automaker and performed by a third-party company not affiliated with the well-known J.D. Power & Associates. He then spends a few paragraphs discrediting initial quality in the first place, citing J.D. Power figures that show the difference between the best and worst vehicles during the first few months of ownership were a mere .8 problems per vehicle. Of those problems, most of them were customer preferences and not actual issues that needed repair.

While we agree that initial quality is far from the complete quality story, it's incredible that Toyota would discredit a stat that has been a pillar of its own high quality image. The Toyota and Lexus brands have been among the leaders in initial quality for ages, which anyone would say is a result of great design, engineering and manufacturing. But now that other automakers are catching up, it seems Toyota wants to label initial quality as insignificant. Either way, we'll just have to wait another 3-5 years to find out if a Ford Fusion built today holds up as well as a Toyota Camry.

[Source: Toyota]
Read | Permalink | Email this | Comments


More...

It's somewhat true. While Ford may be improving in quality, it seems Toyota is falling.

in what manner?

i think toyota has set a standard for car making..tho i do like the new fusion which that has nothing to do with anything just wanted to throw that in

I don't think it's Toyota's actual design flaw. It's due more to the assembly process. aka. NUMMI plant.

I agree, Toyota quality just went down hill to equal Ford quality.

dont get me wrong, i love toyota, but ya there starting to go down hill.

General claims and opinions are nice, but how do any of you figure it's gone down-hill?

I would never choose ford over a toyota or a honda or even a nissan for that matter except if i was buying a truck. I dont care what award toyota won this year for their truck.. to me it is still behind the f150. toyota went and added extra size and a bigger engine but the quality on it is not anywhere as close as the ford. There are videos out on the web that are comparing the f150 silverado and the tundra on rigorous tests off road and rough roads. The toyotas bed looked like it was going to fall completely off. It was terrible and if you are taking the truck off road or pulling a trailer or anything other than driving on a smoth road then I am gettin a f150. Give it time and toyota will figure it all out. Fords have been makin the f150s forever.

Ill look for those videos so i can put a link up on here.

ok i can honestly say the new tundra kicks ass. it has balls. and i base my car buying on balls!! my brother has an 07 gmc 4drs, cousin has an 07 f150 fx2, and my brothers friend has a new tundra.... ive driven them all and i love iforce v8 baby!!!!!!!!!


yes i do base all my car buying on balls!!!! aka power numbers

yet you bought your self a corolla..

Im not on Ford's side or whatnot but I remember some recalls on the Tundra's suspension and recalls on the Taco trucks. Do those count? I have to research more to find out some facts. Since school is over I might have time to actually snoop around. I will let you guys know what I find out.

it was either that for $2K or a 94 mirage se 1.5 poopoo for $2200 now that i think about it i coulda done a evo conversion on that mirage but o well..

:trd:

yeah there has been recals on toyota. but toyota is quick to handle the situation... but ford... lets a couple people die in rollovers before investigating. lol

hahaha You have a point there.

btw, power these days doesn't mean that much anymore. Most people worry about gas mileage. I would hate to have a V8 right now, or a V6 for that matter.

Nobody answered my question. Initial quality on vehicles in my eyes is the first 10,000 miles. 95% of vehicles have fantastic initial quality. It's after they start wearing in when quality shows it's colors. My Tundra has just a hair under 100,000 miles and it drives like the day I bought it, minus the fact I have it lifted.

And the reason we all hear about toyota recalls more than ford, is because we read toyota sites. If we all read ford boards or news on a daily basis you'd probably find the same, if not more recall information on fords.

Quality is in the eyes of the beholder. And the fact there are so many toyota trucks out there with hundreds and hundreds of thousands of miles. ...that shows Toyota has initial quality, and quality years down the road.

So the ads are just pointing out what they want the public to focus on instead of the big picture. Advertising can be tricky.

well if thats what we are going for than mopar must have the worst... every new 07-08 wrangler that I work on has a rear main leak, easy fix.. replace the engine (porous block at rear main seal), also the hardtop "freedom top" that they have leaks water at the windshield, just a word of advice, don't buy a wrangler..

I would buy a Ford over a Chrysler. That tells you how bad Chrysler is. LOL

so would I and I work for them..

haha LOL

my 94 rolla has well over 200k miles on it. it just recently died, but my fault not on ts own. and my rolla takes a beating everyday. i floor it all over the place!!! my low oil light was on but i ignored it, "ill put oil in it tomorow" well i floored it over some train tracks and it just died on me. waited a little, turned it on seemed fine but lacking power. i drove it for 2 more days to and from work like 10miles each way plus i come home on my lunch break, and then its started knocking. well long story short, it spun a bearing.

other than that nothing has ever failed or broke on it. never have changed anything on it since 1996

your right!!! i started working on my motor again today. i need my rolla runing again!!!