I don’t want anyone to spend time filling out the surveys unless there’s a good chance TrueDelta will be able to use the data they provide. So we start collecting data only when 25 of a model are signed up.

As a result, the percentage of the panel that was active was initially small. Actually, it was zero for nearly a year. The first round of surveys, in November of 2005, included about 200 cars. The panel only included about 2,000 cars at the time, so that percentage of enrolled cars included in the surveys was only a bit over ten percent.

As fast as the panel has grown, the number of cars included in the surveys has grown even faster (in percentage terms). Six months later, 1,000 cars were included in the surveys. Six months after that, 2,000 were included.

And then the growth really began to accelerate, to 5,000 cars last May, and 10,000 cars last month, two years after that first round of surveys.

This month, we have another milestone: the percentage of enrolled cars included in the surveys has passed 50 percent.

Since many panel members have two cars enrolled, the percentage of panel members included in the surveys passed 50 percent a few months ago. But too many are still patiently waiting to be included.

Many models are now within five owners of getting started. A list can be found on the bottom half of this page:

Models included in the Vehice Reliability Survey

If you know someone with one of these models who might be interested in participating, please let them know about this research. Hopefully it won’t be much longer before the great majority of models are included.