I forwarded this thread to an old friend of mine who's been a researcher/writer at JD Powers for some time. Here's his response.
"Hahahahahahahahaha
"I’d love to know where this guy got his info. Not a lick of fact in it. The big 3 fought JD Power as a brand every chance they got, up until recently. Toyota was the company’s first client around 1968, followed by other Japanese makes. But the American companies didn’t buy any of our studies until the 80s. Even today the Big 3 are very resistant to us, although when they actually win an award from my study they love to advertise it. The import makes are much more receptive generally. Don’t know what this Toyota Corolla thing is, but that’s not a survey we ever did. "
