Ford delivered "world-class quality," according to Consumer Reports, its Fusion sedan topping both the Toyota Camry and Honda Accord for a second year.
Asian manufacturers, Toyota and Honda in particular, led the way on quality and reliability, according to the latest annual survey of more than 1 million car buyers by the influential publication, Consumer Reports.
But Ford Motor Co. posted significant gains as the only one of the domestic automakers to challenge the Pacific imports. In fact, Ford’s new Fusion actually outperformed the Japanese benchmark sedans, the midsize Toyota Camry and Honda Accord, for the second year in a row.
“Ford is the only domestic automaker producing vehicles with world-class reliability,” declared Ric Paul, CR’s automotive editor, during a speech to Detroit’s Automotive Press Association.
The Honda Insight was the top-ranked vehicle in the latest Consumer Reports quality study, but failed to earn a "Recommended Buy" rating because of its poor performance in the magazine's road tests.
Out of 51 models ranked by Consumer Reports, 46 scored average or better in terms of quality and reliability. And the Fusion and its near-twin, the Mercury Milan, pulled off the seemingly impossible, besting both Camry and Accord in the survey, which looks at 17 different areas in which vehicles might pose problems for their owners.
Even so, Toyota and Honda still topped the charts. The latter maker’s new Insight hybrid was the most problem-free vehicle the magazine measured, and was almost 100 times less likely to develop a problem than the lowest-ranked vehicle, the Volkswagen Touareg SUV. The Lexus SC, a convertible produced by Toyota’s luxury division, ranked a close second.
Collectively, five of the top seven models in the survey were built by either Toyota or Honda. The bigger maker had 17 out of the 48 top-ranked models, while Honda had seven. Overall, Asian makers had 36 models on the list.
But if the two Japanese giants might need to watch out for Ford, they also need to keep a close eye on South Korea’s two makers, suggested Paul, noting that, “Hyundai and Kia continue to do well and are challenging Honda and Toyota.”
Overall, 69% of the 132 Asian models included in the 2010 Consumer Reports study ranked “above average,” another 25% were “average.” Among domestic brands, only 17% were “above average,” and 42% ranked “average.”
General Motors showed some gains, according to the annual survey, which received 1.4 million responses covering more than 2,800 individual vehicle models produced during a 10-year period.
“GM results were inconsistent,” cautioned Paul, though there were some positive signs, notably by the V6 version of the Chevrolet Malibu, which was the only one of 48 current General Motors offerings to rank “above average.” Other new models, however, showed positive trends, including the Chevrolet crossover, the Traverse.
The real weak performer, for Detroit, was Chrysler, whose three brands – Chrysler, Dodge and Jeep, were ranked, overall, among the bottom four of all 33 brands in the survey. A full one-third of all the maker’s products scored “much worse than average.”
If there was any bright spot, it was the Dodge Ram 1500 4×4 pickup, the only Chrysler product to be put on CR’s coveted “Recommended Buy” list. Chrysler had no models on that list last year.
“A high price doesn’t mean it’s reliable,” CR auto editor Paul pointed out, adding that, “Some of our lowest scores…came from luxury vehicles, such as the Jaguar XF and BMW 535.”
There were a few exceptions, notably the brand-new Mercedes-Benz GLK, which scored third among individual models, just behind the Honda Insight and Lexus SC.
Mercedes had suffered some serious quality snags, earlier in the decade, but “continues to rebound,” according to Paul.
Of the 64 European models ranked by CR, only 16% scored “above average,” 47% ranking “average.”
Not all vehicles that scored well in terms of reliability got the big endorsement, in the form of a “Recommended Buy” rating. That’s because the annual report not only considers the 1.4 million owner surveys, but also looks at the magazine’s own road tests. The Honda Insight didn’t do well by that measure, noted CR engineering chief Jake Fisher.
Among those vehicles notably singled out for quality problems and not recommended are the BMW 535, Cadillac DTS and Mini Cooper Hatchback S. But even some otherwise strong brands produced some troubled models, the magazine found, such as the Lincoln MKX, the Lexus GS, the Subaru Impreza WRX and the Volvo XC90.