Customer Logins
Obtain the data you need to make the most informed decisions by accessing our extensive portfolio of information, analytics, and expertise. Sign in to the product or service center of your choice.
Customer LoginsConsumer Reports' 2016 auto reliability survey highlights transmission, infotainment technology problems
The 2016 Consumer Reports New-Car Predicted Reliability survey shows Buick is the first US domestic brand to be ranked in the top three automakers in more than 35 years. New entries, infotainment, and multi-speed transmissions continue to drag on the industry-wide results.
IHS Markit Perspective
- Significance: Consumer Reports has issued its latest reliability rankings for automakers in the US. Although these results cannot be used by manufacturers for advertising, according to Consumer Reports' guidelines, new-car buyers reference the publication's ratings when making purchase decisions and automakers take note of the feedback from this independent source.
- Implications: During the presentation of this year's survey results, Consumer Reports reiterated the industry issues of prior years: new models tend to perform lower in the first year or two and advanced transmissions and new infotainment technology continue to impact on the results as it takes time for automakers to refine and perfect vehicle systems. With advanced transmissions and infotainment systems proliferating quickly across the industry, overall performance is not improving.
- Outlook: Consumer Reports' reliability surveys are closely watched by the industry. A strong placement can offer third-party legitimisation of an automaker's claims of quality. Automakers closely watch these results and often incorporate the feedback into future model development; however, they are not an indicator of sales performance.
Consumer Reports' director of automotive research, Jake Fisher, presented the latest results of the publication's annual quality survey to the Automotive Press Association in Detroit (United States) yesterday (24 October). Largely, the industry trends shown by the annual survey of vehicle owners remain unchanged: vehicles that are in the first year after a significant redesign, as well as infotainment technology and multi-speed transmissions, continue to cause issues in brands' and vehicles' performances. Fisher said that the industry as a whole is not improving in terms of these issues over time. While individual vehicles and brands are seeing improvements, infotainment and modern transmissions are being applied over a wider population of vehicles, essentially decreasing overall reliability at the moment.
The latest study's data predict reliability for 2017 model-year products based on information from the past three years for most vehicles, according to Fisher. The exception to the three-year rule is applied to redesigned vehicles; in those cases, Consumer Reports does not include data from the prior-generation vehicle.
The latest reliability results continue the trend for new transmissions, particularly 8- and 9-speed transmissions, as well as Ford's dual-clutch transmission and, in some cases, Nissan's continuously variable transmission. Consumer Reports states that the 8-speed DCT in the Acura TLX and the 9-speed automatic transmission in the Jeep Cherokee have seen improvements in reliability, but earlier models remain problematic. As the survey includes three years of data, the ranking remains affected.
When presenting the survey results in 2015, Fisher called infotainment systems "the disease that keeps on spreading", as more and more automakers and brands enter the space and each sees the same learning curve, as Ford first demonstrated in the evolution of the Sync and MyFord Touch systems. While Ford is seeing improvement, other automakers are adding new systems, updating systems, or expanding availability of systems in their product ranges, and reliability scores have been impacted. While Honda is in the process of moving away from its complicated dual-screen infotainment system, the new system in the 2016 Civic and Pilot has come under criticism and been problematic. Fisher said the Civic's result contributed to the Honda brand slipping to 10th in the reliability rankings. He also said that the all-new Pilot showed only average reliability.
Of the 29 brands reviewed, on the average performance of each brand's nameplates, the top four were Lexus, Toyota, Buick, and Audi. Lexus and Toyota have held the one and two positions for several years running. This year, Buick has risen four positions to get ahead of Audi, which dropped by one position compared with last year. The top eight brands, ranked as Most Reliable, also included Kia (up one place), Mazda (down two), Hyundai (up two), and Infiniti (up 16). Fisher noted that Kia continues to outperform its brand sibling, Hyundai, largely because Hyundai products tend to be the lead vehicles for Hyundai-Kia platforms, engines, and technologies, leaving Kia a bit more time and information with which to sort out early production issues. Audi is now enjoying several years of progress, with the new Q7 and Q3 performing well.
The middle of the pack − the Reliable group − includes BMW, Honda, Subaru, Acura, Nissan, Mini, Chevrolet, Porsche, Mercedes-Benz, and Ford. Within this group, BMW, Acura, Nissan, Chevrolet, and Mercedes-Benz all performed better than last year, while the reliability of Honda, Subaru, Mini, Porsche, and Ford declined. The reasons for Honda's and Ford's decline have been noted, while Subaru suffered from lower reliability in its all-new Legacy and Outback.
Eleven brands were in the Least Reliable category, including electric vehicle manufacturer Tesla. The 11 brands in the Least Reliable category comprise Volvo, Lincoln, Cadillac, Volkswagen, Jeep, GMC, Tesla, Dodge, Chrysler, Fiat, and Ram. Fiat Chrysler Automobiles (FCA) continues to struggle, with all five of its brands in the Least Reliable category. Jeep improved its performance, although the Renegade was the worst of FCA's products. Generally, higher complexity in full-size truck platforms has caused problems for General Motors (GM) and for Ram. For GMC, this causes a significant issue as the Yukon (and twin Chevrolet Suburban) was one of the 10 least reliable vehicles overall. While having a car-heavy line-up proved a benefit to Buick, a truck-heavy line-up has not been a benefit to GMC in this particular survey. Ram was also on the 10-least-reliable list. Volvo's struggles are related to the all-new XC90. While the XC90 has been critically well received, it is on an all-new platform, has an all-new engine and transmission, and has all-new in-car electronics and infotainment. This has led to poor reliability, as is common with a first-year vehicle, which has pulled the brand down despite solid performances from its older entries. Tesla's Model X performed poorly in the survey, but the Model S has seen improvement compared with last year and Consumer Reports now recommends the model.
Outlook and implications
The Consumer Reports' auto quality surveys are closely watched by the industry, as a strong placement can offer third-party legitimisation of an automaker's claims of quality. As a statistically based survey of vehicle owners, sales volume is weeded out as a factor. While the publication does not allow OEMs to advertise their placements, many consumers look to the publication for reliability data as they shop for new vehicles. The impact of new infotainment systems and advanced transmissions are increasing risk of reliability problems as automakers and suppliers refine their products. However, automakers run greater risk of being left behind in terms of technology and fuel economy if they shy away from making investments and improvements in their products. As closely watched as these results are, they are not an indicator of sales performance, however.
With in-car electronics and advanced transmissions proliferating across more vehicle models, the industry overall is not seeing improved reliability. Fisher noted, however, that the issues have changed, and there are fewer mechanical problems from systems, including suspensions and engines. Ford has improved its infotainment systems to the point that they are less of an issue for that brand than they were, but transmissions continue to be problematic. GM had a win with Buick being ranked third and Chevrolet reaching the Reliable category. GMC and Cadillac continue to score in the Least Reliable category; Chevrolet and Cadillac saw improvements of four positions and GMC dropped five places in the rankings. FCA, as noted, continues to struggle with reliability. Several FCA products were in the 10 least-reliable category, including the Ram 2500, Jeep Renegade, Fiat 500L, and Chrysler 200. The European brands' results continue to be mixed. Audi is still ranked in the top five, but dropped one place. Mercedes-Benz gained four places in the rankings, although Consumer Reports noted that the S-Class and C-Class remain unreliable, and the all-new GLS did not perform well.
However, there is little correlation between sales volume and Consumer Reports' brand rankings. In 2015, the top five brands by sales were Ford, Chevrolet, Toyota, Honda, and Nissan − the same ranking as in 2014 and 2013. In the latest rankings, four of these five were in the Reliable category, with only Toyota in the More Reliable category.
About this article
The above article is from IHS Automotive Same-Day Analysis of automotive news, events and trends, and is a deliverable of the World Markets Automotive Service. The service averages thirty stories per day and also provides competitor and country intelligence. Get a free trial.