Another quarter, another set of tweaks to the Vehicle Reliability Survey. This time around, I’ve sought to address two common problems with responses.

First off, people often report multiple issues at the same time. The form has been revised to make it clearer that the top half of the form should be filled out separately for each repair trip, while the bottom half should be filled out separately for each problem addressed. Unless this happens, it will never be possible to report the number of problems per car as well as the number of trips per car.

Second, people often report a repair trip that resulted in parts being ordered or an unsuccessful repair, but do not report a follow-up repair trip where the parts were successfully installed. Currently the “Repair Trips per Year” analysis only includes repair trips that included at least one successful repair, so it is critical that successful repairs be reported.

I’ve been following up on every “open” issue, but this is tedious for both you and me. So the form and supporting database have been redesigned to track issues across repair trips. The form now lists all open issues less than a year old in the question that asks if the problem is new or old. Selecing one of these and then reporting the outcome as a “successful repair” closes the issue.

All responses to the repair questionnaire are also listed at the top of the form, so people won’t have to wonder whether or not they’re already reported a repair. There have only been a couple instances of double reporting, but I suspect having previously reported repairs listed will be helpful for many people.

I have found when following up that most people can’t remember the details of a repair if more than a month or two has passed. I don’t see how an annual survey could possibly gather decent information.

One problem I’m still struggling with: people tell me they want to know repair costs, but I’m not sure many people can accurately report them. Too often people include maintenance costs even though the instructions say not to. Before TrueDelta can report repair costs the quality of this data will have to improve. Suggestions welcome.