No idea why that's historically been the case, but the paradigm seems to have shifted some. There's tons of studies and objective reports out there that rank vehicle reliability though, and an interesting trend has emerged in the last 10-ish years or so. Honda no longer has all of their vehicles ranked in the top 3 for reliability. They have a few select vehicles that are (CRV, Civic), but as a whole, Honda reliability in recent years as a company has taken a hit. Toyota is no longer the reliability powerhouse, and most recent "ratings websites" (JD Power type sites) actually rank the Tacoma below the Ford Ranger and Chevy Colorado. Lots of reports of performance issues with recent Tacos and Tundras unfortunately.
In fact, I've been researching the mid-sized pickups as my next daily driver (currently in a half-ton and have no use for the additional capacity, but wish my wheelbase was shorter and my stance was narrower for mountain use), and there's lots of reports from places like Australia that the new standard for the Overland rigs that live in the bush is the Ford Ranger. The Ranger was only discontinued in the US Market for that 10 year span, and continued everywhere else, and there's lots of reports that it out does the new Tacomas in that environment. Just one example, but the more I research, the more I fall out of love with Toyota.
First Gen Tacos are a different conversation, but anything newer than the late 2000's and it seems that lots of the Japanese brands have fallen off the proverbial Totem Pole they were on top of for so long.