For the second consecutive year, Toyota ranks as the most reliable automaker in CarMD's Vehicle Health Index, which measures vehicle reliability. Even less surprising, the 2010 Corolla claimed the top spot for trustworthiness in the individual vehicle category.
The index, which was launched last year, pulls from a database of 136 million vehicle repairs from cars built within the past 10 years. To compile the rankings, it averages the number of check-engine-related? problems and the amount of repair costs for each car and carmaker.
This year saw a bit of a shake-up on the domestic front. In 2011, Ford and General Motors occupied the fourth and fifth spots, respectively, but this time around, they dropped out of the top five. Instead Hyundai, BMW, Honda and Volkswagen rounded out the upper echelons of the rankings.
Yet despite its fall among automakers, Ford scored big among individual vehicles, with its 2008 Focus claiming the No. 2 spot below the Corolla. Next in the rankings came the 2008 Toyota Yaris, 2009 Honda Pilot and 2008 Honda Accord.
Among the top vehicles, Hyundai had the lowest average repair cost ($271.86) and BMW the highest ($502.48). But the BMW figure was offset by the fact that those cars rarely need repairs, according to CarMD's data.
The 2010 Dodge Grand Caravan took honors as the most reliable minivan, while the 2010 Subaru Forester was named the best wagon/crossover SUV. Topping the truck category was the 2008 Ford Ranger; the 2007 Lexus ES350 was the highest-ranking luxury vehicle.
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