The general rule with these Q&A surveys is that the more clear-cut the responses from our readers, the less interesting the results. The interest quotient is in direct proportion to the closeness of voting on the individual questions that make up our surveys: controversy is where there is a lot of rivalry and disagreement.
Except this time. The margins between opposing views in every single one of our 10 questions on automotive reliability are clear, but the number of write-in comments indicates that this is a subject a lot of our readers feel strongly on.
The survey was prompted by the recall of cars on a global scale, principally by Toyota, but also spilling over into other carmakers. We come to that specific bit further on, but first we tried to get some idea about automotive reliability as faced by our readers, many of whom are both involved in the industry and enthusiastic consumers of its products.
Had they had, in the past year, a breakdown in a car they were driving – to the extent that they were unable to continue their journey? The answers, from 480 PE readers, are pretty reassuring: Yes, said 16%, No said 84%. Several readers of, presumably, more mature years contrasted the reliability of today’s cars with that of yesteryears’. Ah, the nostalgia that can be invoked by memories of the smell of a boiling radiator.
The other side to this is when carmakers recall vehicles for modifications or repairs. Had this happened to our readers? Again, the incidence is low: 21% had had it happen to them at some point, but 78% hadn’t. Two of the 480 couldn’t remember.
The gist of what comes through from this is that today’s vehicles are pretty reliable and available whenever we need them. Yet we still operate as if they weren’t: we asked how many of our readers are members – personally or through some work or insurance-related scheme – of the AA, RAC or a similar motoring rescue service, and 83% are. Only a couple said they’d positively decided not to join one of these schemes because they felt they didn’t need it.
Of course, one of the ways in which we can all help to make our cars even better is to check the little wear and tear things that can go wrong: like the oil and water, for instance. Do our PE readers do that? Mostly, Yes, they do, or at least 69% claim to do so regularly. It’s much the same for tyres, with 68% claiming that they check them before undertaking any long journey.
That’s not the limit of direct intervention of readers with vehicles, either. We’re not exactly encouraged these days, with the plethora of sealed boxes and delicate computer-based systems within our cars, to tackle much in the way of minor running repairs. But do our readers feel reasonably confident they could do the necessary to their cars? The answer is a big Yes: by 72% to 26%.
This question is, though, the cue for the first big set of write-in comments, additional to the simple Yes/No/Don’t Know answers the Q&A surveys demand. The comments tell about the irritation of not being able to replace even a simple lamp bulb without going into a dealer, and about the garage repairs that have to be undone or redone by our readers when the car gets home.
There are even more write-in comments on the next question. We asked whether the recent recall of vehicles by, particularly, Toyota had made readers wary about choosing a vehicle from those makers in the future. The answer is a big vote of confidence in Toyota: 80% said No.
And many of these respondents went much further than the simple single-syllable answer. Toyota cars were much praised for their reliability and the recent recalls had been carried out both speedily and effectively. How many cars, several people wondered, were driving around with far more serious faults that manufacturers had not acknowledged; how serious was the problem that had been identified anyway? A lot of respondents thought press coverage had been sensationalist and unfair.
In fact, it’s not just Toyota that can take some comfort from the views of our readers. We asked whether standards of vehicle manufacture in terms of safety and reliability were generally rising, and 90% of our readers said Yes. The 4% who we put into the Don’t Know category were mainly those who said Yes to safety but No to reliability – only 5% thought things hadn’t got better on both fronts.
So where is the problem in today’s cars? It’s behind the wheel. We asked whether readers thought standards of driving in the UK in terms of safety were generally rising – and 72% said No, many of them adding comments, to the extent that we have put them up here on our website.
The 19% who think driving standards are getting better cited reasons such as the unacceptability of drink-driving and generally slower speeds, often enforced through congestion. But, for some, this is a hot topic.
Where's the spare?
We asked in this survey a question that got a lot of readers exercised. These days, when you get a car, you often don’t get a spare wheel: you have run-flat tyres or a “skinny” that will limp you home. In some cases, you get a spray kit puncture repair outfit. Are our readers happy with these arrangements?
In all, 39% are happy, and 5% are content with one or other of a run-flat or skinny option. But 56% said No, they weren’t happy. The saving on boot space or weight was more than offset by the rough ride and high cost of run-flats; skinnies are reckoned by many not to work on front wheels and, if you can change a wheel to put on one of those, why not just have a full-size tyre, several people asked.