New Car Reliability Ratings

?Automobile reliability is an important factor for anyone who drives a car today and of the big three domestic automakers, only the Ford Motor Company is producing vehicles that compare well to the offerings from other global automakers. That fact is confirmed by Consumer Report’s recently released Annual Car Reliability Survey showing that Ford is the only domestic automaker able to boast that ninety percent of its Ford, Mercury and Lincoln products earned average or better reliability scores. Less than half of the models from the General Motors brand even earned average scores, while more than a third of Chrysler automobiles earned worse-than-average ratings.

Ford spokesmen said the brand’s new level of quality is no accident because the company embarked on a new quality-improvement process four years ago, and the plan is now starting to pay off with vehicles that rival even longtime reliability leaders like the Honda Accord and Toyota Camry. The Consumer Reports team attributes part of ford’s newfound quality to a new strategy that pits long-term planning against short-term financial gain. Because the three domestic automakers have all had to face the realities of trying to increase shareholder values, while maintaining the stock prices at the same time, short term gains were often the primary focus. It now appears that Chrysler and General Motors failed to realize that there is a big difference between making the stock prices look good, and making good cars.

Consumer Reports looked at over 1.5 million vehicles owned or leased over the last decade and measured two primary factors, high repair costs and low reliability scores to come up with its reliability ratings. The higher the cost of repair, and the lower the reliability rating, the worse a vehicle was scored. In the comparison, the Asian automakers showed very good reliability scores. Out of the 48 different vehicles that earned top reliability scores, the list included 18 Toyotas, eight Hondas, four Nissans, three Hyundai/Kia cars and one Subaru. The findings are not all that surprising and show that some of the most basic generalizations about the automotive industry are still somewhat valid. The Asian vehicles still excel while Ford tries harder and Chrysler and General Motors continue to struggle with ongoing reliability issues.