SAN FRANCISCO -

Are Toyota’s most recent recalls affecting consumers’ interest in the nameplate's vehicles?

According to data from Jumpstart Automotive Group, it appears that customers are remaining loyal despite two recalls that covered 10.2 million vehicles across the globe.

“Considering Toyota manufacturers the number one selling car in the midsize vehicle segment among car shoppers 11 years and counting speaks volumes to how fiercely loyal Toyota customers really are,” said Nick Matarazzo, chief executive officer of Jumpstart Automotive Group.

“It also demonstrates how a proactive approach to addressing recalls can help soften negative brand perceptions. Despite ongoing quality issues, Toyota has maintained two of the top ten spots in share of online shoppers across Jumpstart’s sites over the past three years with the Camry and the Corolla,” he continued.

According to the company’s study of customers on its 14 automotive websites, including J.D. Power.com, the analysis revealed that online shopper interest in the automaker’s cars and trucks has been “virtually unaffected” and that over the past two months, Toyota has actually seen a slight increase in brand shoppers over September.

This may come as interesting news, since these latest recalls come on the heels of 2009 – 2011 recalls, as well as the Japanese earthquake and tsunami and Thailand floods just last year.

“If there’s any trepidation regarding Toyota products, the company just isn’t seeing it in high volume among the millions of online auto shoppers across its suite of sites,” Jumpstart noted.

Breaking the numbers down further, during the four-week period following news of the 7.4 million vehicle recall (from Oct. 10 to Nov. 10), “shopper interest in Toyota cars and trucks across Jumpstart’s suite of websites remained relatively strong with only a 0.4 percent decline in share at an average of 9.0 percent compared to the first ten months of this year,” the company shared, noting the recall didn’t seem to rattle consumers.

Citing yet another recall, in the two weeks since Nov. 14, when it was announced that 2.8 million vehicles were being recalled, Toyota’s shopper interest has held relatively steady with only a 0.1-percent decline over the prior two weeks, according to Jumpstart data.

The company also offered data on how the company fared during another period of large recalls during 2009–2011.

Toyota maintained an average 10.8 percent share of brand shopping across Jumpstart’s network of sites during the height of its recalls in 2009, 2010 and 2011, at 11.3 percent, 11.0 percent and 10.1 percent, respectively, the company shared.

“Although dipping slightly to 9.4 percent in October, Toyota is on pace to end the year at around 10.0 percent share of Jumpstart shoppers,” officials added.

Though it seems Toyota has not lost customer interest amid  recalls and natural disasters, Jumpstart says “the timing of the latest recalls is cause for concern.”

“The competition for the top spot in the midsize sedan category has never been more heated which makes the timing of these latest recalls unfortunate,” said Matarazzo.

“Earlier this year, Nissan declared the Altima has what it takes to knock Camry off its top-selling pedestal, and a number of the models in this segment have been redesigned, including the Ford Fusion, the Chevy Malibu and the Honda Accord. It will be interesting to see how this Battle Royale shakes out in the coming year,” he concluded.

For more information on soem of Toyota's latest recalls, see the Auto Remarketing story here.