Toyota 4Runner reliability -- better info

With the May update, we had a result for the 1997 based on a very small sample size. With a reported repair frequency of only 35 repair trips per 100 vehicles per year, it's much better than average.

Thank you to everyone who has been helping. We'll have further updates in August and November. With more participants, we could provide more precise information and cover all model years.

Toyota 4Runner reliability comparisons
 
We've updated the results for the 4Runner to include owner experiences through June 30, 2010.

Other sources of car reliability information won't cover the more recent months until the summer or even fall of next year.

Repair frequencies, in terms of repair trips per 100 cars per year:

2000: 73

1999: 82

1998: 64

1997: 59

All are better than average, but small and even very small sample sizes for this generation.

Everyone who has been helping, thanks, I really appreciate it. We'll have further updates in November and February. With more participants, we could provide more precise information and cover all model years.

To see how competitors compare, and to sign up to help:

Toyota 4Runner reliability comparisons
 
Starting this month we have a new question to measure, as objectively as possible, the severity of a problem. Many people have been asking for reliability stats that weight problems by how severe they are, and once we have enough responses with the revised survey we'll start providing this.

Also this month: updated reliability stats.

As always, the more owners participate, the better the information we can provide to everyone.

Car reliability research
 
We've updated the results for the 4Runner to include owner experiences through September 30, 2010. Other sources of car reliability information won't cover the months since April until the summer or even fall of next year.

Repair frequencies, in terms of repair trips per 100 cars per year:

2000: 83

1999: 95

1998: 61

1997: 53

All are better than average, but small sample sizes in all cases for this generation, so these results are not precise.

Thank you, once again, to everyone who has been helping. We'll have further updates in February and May. With more participants, we could provide more precise information and cover all model years.

To see how competitors compare, and to sign up to help:

Toyota 4Runner reliability ratings and comparisons
 
We've updated the results for the 4Runner to include owner experiences through December 31, 2010.

Repair frequencies, in terms of repair trips per 100 cars per year:

2000: 111

1999: 100

1998: 95

1997: 59

The 1999 and 2000 are about average while the others are better than average. Small and even very small sample sizes for all of these years.

Thank you, once again, to everyone who has been helping. We'll have further updates in May and August. With more participants, we could provide more precise information and cover all model years.

To see how competitors compare, and to sign up to help:

Toyota 4Runner reliability ratings and comparisons
 
We've updated the results for the 4Runner to include owner experiences through March 31, 2011.

Repair frequencies, in terms of repair trips per 100 cars per year:

2000: 91

1999: 112

1998: 93

1997: 64

The 1999 is about average while the others are better than average. Small and even very small sample sizes for these years.

Thank you, once again, to everyone who has been helping. We'll have further updates in August and November. With more participants, we could provide more precise information and cover all model years.

To see how competitors compare, and to sign up to help improve this information:

Toyota 4Runner reliability ratings and comparisons
 
We've updated our reliability stats for the thrid-generation Toyota 4Runner to include owner experiences through June 30, 2011.

Repair frequencies, in terms of repair trips per 100 cars per year:

2000: 93

1999: 116

1998: 119

1997: 83

The 1998 and 1999 are about average while the others are better than average. Good sample sizes for the 2004 and up, small and even very small sample sizes for the other years.

We'll have further updates in November and February. With more participants, we could provide more precise information and cover all model years.

To see how competitors compare, and to sign up to help improve this information:

Toyota 4Runner reliability ratings and comparisons
 
annoying:

1999 4Runner
This model year currently supported only for CRS
Add'l info: silver

Not yet activated--either too few owners or recently enrolled Currently own
change status
 
annoying:

1999 4Runner
This model year currently supported only for CRS
Add'l info: silver

Not yet activated--either too few owners or recently enrolled Currently own
change status

Sorry, I've only entered bodystyle and powertrain information back to the 2000 model year. These are needed by all surveys except the main reliability survey.
 
We've updated the our reliability stats for the 4Runner (on our redesigned site) to include owner experiences through September 30, 2011.

Repair frequencies, in terms of repair trips per 100 cars per year:

2000: 103

1999: 115

1998: 104

1997: 82

The 1997 is better than average, while the others are about average. Small and even very small sample sizes for all years.

Thank you, once again, to everyone who has been helping. We'll have further updates later this month and in May. With more participants, we could provide more precise information and cover all model years.

To see how competitors compare, and to sign up to help improve this information:

Toyota 4Runner reliability ratings and comparisons
 
We've updated the our reliability stats for the 4Runner (on our redesigned site) to include owner experiences through September 30, 2011.

Repair frequencies, in terms of repair trips per 100 cars per year:

2000: 103

1999: 115

1998: 104

1997: 82

I'd be curious to know how these repair frequencies compare to other SUV's of the same model year?
 
We've updated the our reliability stats for the 4Runner to include owner experiences through September 30, 2012.

Repair frequencies, in terms of repair trips per 100 cars per year:

2000: 67, small sample size

1999: 76

1998: 107, about average, small sample size

1997: 49, small sample size

All except the 1998 are better than average, even much better.

We'll have further updates in February and May. We'd love to provide more precise stats and cover more model years--just a matter of getting more owners involved.

To see how competitors compare, and to sign up to help:

Toyota 4Runner reliability ratings and comparisons
 
We've updated the our reliability stats for the 4Runner to include owner experiences through December 31, 2012.

Repair frequencies, in terms of repair trips per 100 cars per year:

2000: 26, small sample size

1999: 58

1998: 94, moderate, very small sample size

1997: 80, very small sample size

All except the 1998 are low (which is good).

Thank you, once again, everyone who has been helping. We'll have further updates later this month and in August. The more owners participate, the more comprehensive and precise these will be.

To see how competitors compare, and to sign up to help improve this information:

Toyota 4Runner reliability ratings and comparisons
 
I checked out the site but the info seems overly simplistic. When I click on the 99 category it does nothing. I tried to go to the next level of detail but it appears to not exist.
----- found the info thanks - - - - -

Tracking just the repairs isn't really an accurate method for predicting reliability.

A conversation with a T4R member would yield the following:

Steering rack goes loose sometime after 150k miles
LBJs go out after 150k or 10 years
Rear axel seal sometime after 150k, maybe sooner
Factory rotors after 150k, maybe sooner
Stock suspension after 120k or 10 years should be replaced
Starter issues after 100k

Can you produce a chart showing that data?
 
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I'm not sure what you mean by clicking on '99 and it doing nothing. It sounds like you might have clicked on something that wasn't clickable. There's a link in the far-right column to view descriptions for all reported repairs.

When mechanics make statements like those you suggest, I think they're mostly drawing upon their gut. Perhaps some have compiled and analyzed the data from hundreds of cars, but I've never heard of any doing this.

We'd have to make such statements based on data, and for this we'd need data on a lot more vehicles. I'd love to have it, but how many owners participate is largely beyond my control.
 
[MENTION=65101]BrianSD_42[/MENTION]: I think what you mentioned is more of preventative maintenance and a good idea of when parts are to go wrong, so when customers bring in their vehicles wondering why their rotors are warped, and their odometer is around 130,000, the technician can explain that that is the average mileage that rotors go bad.

With mkaresh's system, he uses owner feedback to get a more accurate understanding of when maintenance is required. For instance, say someone owns a 1997 Volkswagen Jetta and a 1997 Toyota 4Runner. If you were to compare the relative preventative maintenance schedules, they would both probably indicate that various parts need to be changed out at around 110,000-130,000 miles, but you and I both know that VW parts will fail before Toyota.

So, by using consumer feedback on when repairs/maintenance have been performed on their own vehicles, it offers a more accurate average of when those various repairs are in fact needed. So say the average timing belt replacement for "X" Car Company is 100,000, but 300 owners of their exact vehicle have been having timing belt failures at 85,000-90,000 miles. Its a good basis to tell other owners, "Hey, don't wait till 100,000, we have interference engines and do yourself a favor, get it done at 80,000 miles."
 
OK I was able to see the details and it looks like there is some valuable info .

Much of it be aligns with what I mentioned above. My comments are based on my own truck and viewing thousands of threads on T4R.
 
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I suggest you take the data and try to predict a failure range for some of the more common issues like the ones I mention above.

I'm sure you are familiar with MTBF (mean time between failure) .. If you have enough data you should be able to predict when a steering rack will start to fail or when the valve cover gaskets will start to leak. Mine started leaking at about 120k miles....
 
I doubt we have enough data yet in many cases. Beyond that I'm personally short on time. But we're probably going to be hiring more people soon, with the intent of being able to offer more information about more things than we do currently.
 

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