When Toyota’s current reliability issues made headlines this past week, many people were quick to assume that manufacturing the cars in the U.S. was the source of the problem.

I’d avoid such a rush to judgment. I’ve noticed that Acura and Honda owners are especially likely to assume that Japanese-made Acuras and Hondas are much better built than American-made Acuras and Hondas. And yet the Japanese-made Acura RL is the least reliable car in either line, according to Consumer Reports.

In Toyota’s case, most Camry V6s were made in the U.S. But the problem is with the transmission, which was engineered and manufactured in Japan. And the Lexus GS, also recently singled out, is entirely manufactured in Japan.

Many people want clear, simple rules such as “American bad, Japanese good” on which to base their decisions. But reliability cannot be inferred from the country of manufacture or even the brand. As Consumer Reports now realizes in the case of Toyota (if not yet with Honda and Subaru), it’s necessary to go down to at least the model level when estimating how reliable a car is likely to be.