Good design, manufacturing drive reliability

if you’ve driven a Camry in the past 35 years, you know it didn’t do that, either.

What it did do is put a lot of effort into designing parts that last, manufacturing them well and assembling them so that the spaces between the moving parts (called ‘’tolerances’’) are tiny. That makes engines run quietly and run longer because the pieces aren’t knocking the heck out of each other a thousand times a minute. In some cases, those improvements involved better design and engineering. In some cases, they involved training and incentivizing employees. And in other cases, they involved spending a little more money on parts or materials.

Other manufacturers had other top priorities. Some focused on performance, some on styling, some on the next quarterly return for their shareholders. Toyota bet that if it could gain a reputation for building cars that were reliable and lasted a long time, that would eventually pay off. And it did.

Now, there still are people for whom reliability is not the first thing on their wish list. Some are moved more by styling, some by fuel economy, comfort, safety or high performance. And some just say, ‘’Screw the reliability ratings, I want that cute little Fiat!’’ And there’s nothing wrong with that. Caveat emptor.

But the reason Toyotas and Hondas have long been leaders in reliability and durability is because they made those things priorities over many years, and then measured and improved them month after month after month. And although others have gotten closer, they’re still working to catch up.