Archived Copies of Warranty Week

December 2002 to Today

Top Japanese Automaker Warranty Expenses: Toyota and Honda continue to recover from their recall-related spikes in warranty costs. But for Nissan Motor Company Ltd., there's not much change to report. The company's warranty expense rates have remained stubbornly close to one percent for more than a decade.
July 25, 2019
Japanese Auto Warranties: While Toyota, Nissan and Honda dominate, six other companies also pay claims and make accruals for cars, trucks and buses made in Japan, or made elsewhere by a Japanese company. And while none besides Toyota & Honda report all their warranty metrics, most leave enough clues for outside observers to plug the holes with estimates.
October 11, 2018
Honda & Toyota Warranty Report: Both companies are recovering from some bad years in terms of warranty costs: Honda in fiscal 2016 and Toyota in fiscal 2017. But according to the figures in their brand new annual reports for the just-finished year of fiscal 2018, both companies are now on the mend, with warranty costs that are still unusually elevated, but not as high as they were a year or two ago.
July 5, 2018
Asian Automotive Warranty Report: Honda had a bad year in 2016, and this year it was Toyota's turn to report dramatic increases in recall costs. They used to have the lowest automotive warranty costs in the world but now that title belongs to Hyundai, which has yet to see the impact of defective air bags or other rampant problems.
June 29, 2017
Asian Auto Warranty Report: Honda sees its warranty costs soar because of air bag recalls, forcing it to set aside more money for warranty work than GM and Ford combined. Meanwhile, Toyota, Tata, and Hyundai struggle to maintain steady warranty expense rates for their nameplates.
July 7, 2016
Warranty Accruals per Vehicle: The German OEMs still have the highest warranty costs worldwide, but the Japanese carmakers are no longer unopposed at the bottom. Both Fiat and Ford are cutting their warranty costs to within range of longtime low-cost leader Honda. And Toyota is well on its way to getting back to normal.
July 11, 2013
Honda & Toyota Warranties: After a couple of bad years, warranty costs at Toyota are getting back to normal. Meanwhile, at Honda, things have never been better, as warranty costs continue to drop.
June 28, 2012
Toyota's Warranties & Recalls: For the first time ever, the automaker's worldwide recall costs have exceeded its warranty costs. And that has changed both what Toyota reports and how it gets reported in the company's financial statements.
June 30, 2011
Auto OEM Accruals per Vehicle: Measured as a percentage of revenue or as an amount of money set aside per vehicle sold, warranty accruals have declined dramatically for Ford and GM. Some warranty metrics even put Ford slightly ahead of Toyota, though Honda remains the low-cost champ.
July 8, 2010
Worldwide Auto Warranties, Part One: Why do Japanese automakers and heavy equipment manufacturers seem to have such low warranty costs? Though sales are down since last year, warranty costs remain under control, according to annual reports filed recently by Toyota, Honda, Komatsu and others.
July 2, 2009
Auto Warranties: While the Big Three sold two-thirds of the vehicles purchased in the U.S. in 2003, they settled three-quarters of the warranty claims. On average, Detroit pays twice as much in claims per vehicle as Toyota and Honda. But that's not the only quality gap. Recent research finds striking gaps between perceived and actual quality levels.
January 27, 2004