Americans pick Toyotas as highest-quality cars: The Yahoo Autos Survey

Three years after a blitz of recalls and quality crises, Toyota has regained its image among Americans as the automaker with the highest quality vehicles, topping all others in the first Yahoo! Autos Survey. The four brands right behind it include a couple of names you might expect -- and a couple of surprises.

Of the 1,000 people asked which automotive brand built the highest-quality vehicles, Toyota came on top with 13%, well ahead of any other brand. That figure's in line with its performance on the industry's traditional independent quality trackers — the annual Consumer Reports and J.D. Power surveys. Both found a downturn in the wake of the sudden acceleration recalls in 2010 and federal probe that eventually exonerated Toyota, but the automaker regained ground after vowing to focus on better quality vehicles. Toyota took five of the top 10 picks from Consumer Reports this year.