TrueDelta Updates Reliability Survey Results

Thanks in part to the help of people from TTAC, TrueDelta received a record number of responses to January’s Car Reliability Survey—over 21,000. Updated car reliability stats have been posted to the site for 534 cars, up from 488 three month ago. There are partial results for another 378. These stats include car owner experiences through the end of December 2010, making them at least eight months ahead of other sources.

Some highlights:

We now have a solid result for the new 2011 Ford Fiesta, and at 88 repair trips per 100 cars per year it’s not good. The Fiesta has suffered from common problems with the dual clutch transmission and the fuel gauge. There’s a simple fix for the most common transmission problem, essentially cleaning an electrical ground and reprogramming the computer. But a few of these transmissions have failed entirely. The 2010 Ford Taurus has also been afflicted by a few common, if generally minor, problems. Ford does not appear to have tested either model thoroughly enough.

The “retro glitch” award goes to the Chevrolet Equinox and GMC Terrain, courtesy of headliners prone to falling down. Did you think this once very common problem had been eradicated? Apparently not. And yet the aesthetically retro Camaro has had few problems of any kind in the past year.

The 2009 and 2010 Audi Q5 repair frequencies are now sky high thanks to plastic water pumps that are almost guaranteed to fail—another common problem that should have been caught prior to SOP. Audi A4s and A6s also suffer from the same faulty pumps, but not as often. These pumps have now been recalled.

Though thoroughly redesigned, the 2011 Infiniti M has been very reliable so far. The 2010 Hyundai Genesis sedan, on the other hand, remains average in its second model year thanks to a common problem with the power adjuster for the steering column. Which, ironically, is a problem that was once common in the Infiniti EX.

Japanese cars do tend to be more reliable, but they aren’t perfect. Older Subarus suffer from failing head gaskets and become expensive to maintain once the odometer passes 100k. Mazdas tend to rust prematurely where the roads are salted. And 1999-2003 Hondas with V6 engines and four-speed automatics remain susceptible to transmission failures. Of these three manufacturers, Honda is most likely to accept some responsibility and provide out-of-warranty assistance.

TrueDelta also has updated “nada-odds” and “lemon-odds” stats. These report the percentage of cars with no repairs and the percentage with 3+ repair trips in the past year, respectively. Among the 2010 for which we have these stats, the Audi Q5, Hyundai Genesis Coupe, and Ford Taurus were the most likely to require repairs, and by a substantial margin. In all three cases the chances of having at least one repair have been about fifty-fifty. The 2010 Jaguar XF would have been about the same if we’d had enough responses for it. The 2009 is about the same.

With the most reliable models (Toyota Prius, Toyota Yaris, Honda Insight, Honda Fit, Honda CR-V) your chances of a repair-free car throughout 2010 were about nine in ten.

Only among the least reliable cars (generally 8-plus-years-old and European) are your odds of 3+ repair trips in a year greater than one in ten.

We’d like to provide these stats for all cars—just a matter of getting more owners involved.

To view the updated results:

Car Reliability Survey results

Nada-odds

Come across something interesting in the results? Please post it in the comments here.