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Japanese cars with rusty exhausts?

Almost every 1+ year old Nissan, Subaru or Toyota I've looked at seems to have plenty of rust underneath, particularly on the exhaust. Is there any reason for this (and doesn't it impact on Japanses cars reputation for reliability)?

Asked on 27 August 2012 by Peterjn7

Answered by Honest John
If exhausts are mild steel, they rust. if they are stainless steel, they don't. Some are zinc plated and this delays oxidation for a while. But failed exhausts are no more a problem on 'Japanese' models than on European models.
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