Lexus No. 1 in Reliability, Ford Near Bottom

by Cameron Aubernon

Updated: August 18th, 2015 Published: October 31st, 2013

lexus no 1 in reliability ford near bottom

If reliability is the No. 1 trait your next car must have, you may then opt to visit your nearest Lexus dealership before considering anything from the Ford dealership across the street as far as Consumer Reports is concerned.

Lexus, Toyota and Acura dominate the consumer magazine’s Top 10 in reliability for 2013, with a total of seven Japanese automakers taking almost all of the marbles; the only non-Japanese makes to make the Top 10 were Audi (No. 4), Volvo (No. 7) and GMC (No. 9).

Meanwhile, Ford was pushed into the No. 26 slot after being stranded in the 27th position last year. Lincoln fell back to No. 27 on reliability, with BMW’s MINI in dead last on the side of the road. Reasons for both Ford and Lincoln being where they are include complaints about the automaker’s MyFordTouch system, and problems with their EcoBoost engine.

If you’re at the Toyota dealership, however, Consumer Reports recommends anything but the Camry, Prius v or RAV4. The magazine retracted its recommendations for the trio due to poor results in crash testing as conducted by the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety, a decision the publication doesn’t take lightly according to Consumer Reports Director of Auto Testing Jake Fisher:

Honestly, we don’t take this lightly, but virtually every vehicle now in the family sedan category has been tested and the only one that has gotten a ‘poor’ is the Camry. At this point, we don’t feel we can continue to recommend people buy a Camry when there’s other good choices out there that do better on the test.

That said, there may be hope for redemption regarding the Camry: Toyota’s engineers have gone over the car’s failings, and will retest with IIHS in December.

Fisher also said that with 50 vehicles tested by the IIHS, his publication has enough data to begin weeding out any vehicle with a “poor” rating. Thus, expect to see more recommendations retracted on some cars the next time you head to the newsstand to pick up the latest issue of Consumer Reports.

Photo credit: Lexus

#ConsumerReports #Ford #InsuranceInstituteForHighwaySafety #Lexus #Lincoln #Rankings #Recommendations #Reliability #Toyota

Cameron Aubernon

Seattle-based writer, blogger, and photographer for many a publication. Born in Louisville. Raised in Kansas. Where I lay my head is home.

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2 of 175 comments

Lou_BC on Nov 01, 2013

When one looks at JD Power, they list problems as per 100 units. Statistically 130 problems per 100 isn't all that much different than 140 problems per 100 but a shop rate of 110 dollars an hour makes a few extra repairs significant unless you happen to be Jay Leno.

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DrGastro997 on Nov 07, 2013

Why do people on this thread compare Lexus to Ford? If you're to make a valid comparison then do so correctly.

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