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By mkaresh, December 31, 2007

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Because existing sources of auto reliability information left much to be desired, in late 2005 I started conducting my own reliability research at TrueDelta.com. TrueDelta reports absolute stats like "trips to the shop" that make the differences between cars much clearer. Results are updated four times a year, so any significant changes in a model's reliability become apparent quickly.

Thanks to the help of many forums, there are nearly 23,000 vehicles signed up so far, including 226 Corollas. But more are needed. So I'm grateful to Dave Z. for giving me permission to post here.

Participants simply report repairs the month after they occur on a one-page survey. When there are no repairs, they simply report an approximate odometer reading four times a year, at the end of each quarter.

To encourage participation, panel members will receive full access to the results for free.

For the details, and to sign up to help out:

Auto reliability research

And you're making money on this project? Do we allow advertising here?

I'm working hard to provide people with better reliability information. To date I've had no direct revenue from this research. But, yes, eventually I hope to derive some income from it, partly by eventually charging non-participants. Do you work for free?

I'm not sure which "we" you're referring to. The owner of this forum has been a strong supporter of this project from back near the beginning, and has given me permission to post here. As I said, in the OP, I'm very grateful for his support. I am happy to refer visitors to my site to this forum for additional information on the Corolla.

Bikeman982

Most of my cars never get to a shop.

The closest they see is my garage, since I do the repairs.

As far as reliability, I used to drive one car and tried to keep it maintained.

If it didn't break, I had time to work on a second vehicle.

Corollas are so reliable that I can drive one car every day, have another car pretty well fixed and ready for sale, and also work on a third.

That is what I have today. I have two running cars and a current "Project Car".

Of course I have all 7th generation Corollas and the newer ones may be more/less reliable.

Personnally- I don't care if it makes money for you - it is good to have some empirical data.

Looks like your daughter might pose a threat to the longevity of a Corolla. Mine is eight, and I'm not looking forward to 16, for many reasons.

I've been surprised by the number of people who still perform their own repairs. In response, one question on the survey form asks who performed the repair, and one of the choices is "self."

Bikeman982

Looks like your daughter might pose a threat to the longevity of a Corolla. Mine is eight, and I'm not looking forward to 16, for many reasons.

I've been surprised by the number of people who still perform their own repairs. In response, one question on the survey form asks who performed the repair, and one of the choices is "self."

A lot of people (including myself) simply do not have the funds that repair shops and dealers require when they do the maintenance.

 

 

Shops can be pricey.

Still looking for more participants in the research. Next set of results in early February.

Auto reliability research

This site seems interesting, but I don't want to get involved in any more sites where I have to "sign up" and thus be exposed to commercial Email SPAM. I just want to access the information anonymously without any way for the producers of the site to get their hooks into me. If there is advertising on the site, fine. If the advertisers are selling something I'm interested in, they may get some of my business. But I don't want anything showing up in my Inbox, my mailbox, I don't want my phone ringing, etc.

You'll get email from us for the surveys, nothing else. We don't sell our members' contact info. 20,000 members can attest to this. A few have. For example, second post down on this page:

http://forum.mazda6club.com/index.php?show...20&start=20

The fact of the matter is, I'm not looking for any money from you. I need data on your car. Without this data, I can't provide any results. Simple as that.

Vehicle reliability research

Mkaresh,

I went there to sign up. It seems to be an awkward interface so I left.

You'll get email from us for the surveys, nothing else. We don't sell our members' contact info. 20,000 members can attest to this. A few have. For example, second post down on this page:

<a href="http://forum.mazda6club.com/index.php?showtopic=47509&st=20&start=20" target="_blank">http://forum.mazda6club.com/index.php?show...20&start=20</a>

The fact of the matter is, I'm not looking for any money from you. I need data on your car. Without this data, I can't provide any results. Simple as that.

Vehicle reliability research

Thank you for the feedback. Could you be more specific?

I've had to acknowledge that I'm not a master of usability, and have brought on another person to help fix this sort of problem. Specific feedback would be very helpful.

Can you point towards an interface for a site that provides similarly complex information that you find well-designed?

To be honest, I'm really tired today and probably don't have the patience needed to approach it right now. I apologize if this is the case.

There just seems to be a lot of reading. I believe in the "less is more" principle.

You might try to funnel it down into more precise and simple pages to get the info you want...maybe have another button to push if someone really wants to dig in and read.

Thank you for the feedback. Could you be more specific?

I've had to acknowledge that I'm not a master of usability, and have brought on another person to help fix this sort of problem. Specific feedback would be very helpful.

Can you point towards an interface for a site that provides similarly complex information that you find well-designed?

If you can, please take another look when you're less tired.

I understand what you mean by the number of words. I actually cut the number on the main reliability page by about a third a few weeks ago.

The problem is that I don't want anyone to sign up to participate without realizing what is involved. But maybe I should do as you suggest and include a button linking to another page for that. Thanks for the suggestion.

Next results in May. I hope to include at least a couple model years of the Corolla, but this will depend on how many owners participate.

To hellp get your model year included:

Vehicle reliability research

Bikeman982

I don't see anything there for 7th generation Corollas (1993-1997).

I don't see anything there for 7th generation Corollas (1993-1997).

A few of the surveys only include back to 2002 so far.

The main survey would include at least the last couple of years of that generation, if 25+ owners signed up for the model year.

Vehicle reliability research

Bikeman982

I don't see anything there for 7th generation Corollas (1993-1997).

A few of the surveys only include back to 2002 so far.

The main survey would include at least the last couple of years of that generation, if 25+ owners signed up for the model year.

Vehicle reliability research

There is at least 25 owners on this forum that have 7th generation Corollas.

 

Maybe they need to all sign up??

I don't see anything there for 7th generation Corollas (1993-1997).

A few of the surveys only include back to 2002 so far.

The main survey would include at least the last couple of years of that generation, if 25+ owners signed up for the model year.

Vehicle reliability research

There is at least 25 owners on this forum that have 7th generation Corollas.

 

Maybe they need to all sign up??

Well, that would certainly help. But also it's 25 to include a model year, not the entire generation.

Bikeman982

I don't see anything there for 7th generation Corollas (1993-1997).

A few of the surveys only include back to 2002 so far.

The main survey would include at least the last couple of years of that generation, if 25+ owners signed up for the model year.

Vehicle reliability research

There is at least 25 owners on this forum that have 7th generation Corollas.

 

Maybe they need to all sign up??

Well, that would certainly help. But also it's 25 to include a model year, not the entire generation.

So we would need 25 for each year?

 

I own a 1994. 1995, and 1997, - can I qualify for all three years?

Yes, you would. Though I haven't decided yet whether or not to be earlier than 1996.

Bikeman982

Yes, you would. Though I haven't decided yet whether or not to be earlier than 1996.
Maybe you could start with 1993, since that is when the style changed?

 

 

Whatever year I go back to, it will be the same for all models. This research covers all cars, not just the Corolla.

Most model years from 1999 on are now included in the survey, and other years are close. But more participants are needed in all cases.

For the full set of results, and sign up to help (if you haven't already):

TrueDelta Vehicle Reliability Survey results

Guest ShawnTheITGuy

Whatever year I go back to, it will be the same for all models. This research covers all cars, not just the Corolla.

Most model years from 1999 on are now included in the survey, and other years are close. But more participants are needed in all cases.

For the full set of results, and sign up to help (if you haven't already):

TrueDelta Vehicle Reliability Survey results

I signed up for this site after finding out about it on a PT Cruiser forum. Since I'm leaning towards selling my PT Cruiser to get a Corolla, I've been reading up on things here. The site, as has been stated, is genuine. The operator doesn't spam you. He simply mails you a periodic message to say, "Hey, it's a new month, please enter any repairs for the last month at xyz link." Simple as that. Very non-intrusive.

But like another member stated above, I do find the site to be confusing...and it took me a while to figure out why that is. It needs to be displayed in a Reader's Digest version. The site could be broken into a more 'explanatory' section in one place and the nitty-gritty sections in their own. One thing that really throws me is that there are different parts of the site (Reliability, Fuel Economy, Repair History). Maybe they should be referred to as Measures, Categories or something along that line, with a noticeable visual change between each. Making the Fuel Economy pages mostly green, the reliability yellow and the repairs a red theme would differentiate them, since each survey is not integrated.

Another thing that really gets me is the constant use of the term Panel. I never quite know what context the term is used in. From my end-user perspective, the Panel could be the Reliability survey, it could be the results of all cars when there is sufficient quantity of each to start making calculations or it could simply be a database of cars.

The site is useful and doing it's job, but I find I don't spend much time on it because of the usability. The last thing that I don't like is that the server times out if I leave and come back another day. It doesn't seem to support a "Remember Me" kind of feature.

Thanks for the excellent feedback. I get surprisingly little.

A much better log-in system is coming soon. The current one was my own self-taught invention.

Better design is also coming, though it will be more spread out, with some improvements soon, others further down the road.

Updated results in August. Additional participants would be very helpful, with many model years very close to the minimum sample size.

Help get your model year included:

Vehicle reliability research



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