Ford Plunges Seven Spots In Consumer Reports Reliability Rankings As Audi, GM Rise

Derek Kreindler
by Derek Kreindler

Ford took a swan dive in the latest Consumer Reports reliability rankings, finishing second-to-last ahead of Jaguar in the standings. To the Blue Oval’s credt, the poor ratings don’t tell the whole story.

A brief release outlined by CR lists some of the reasons why Ford had such a poor showing this year.

Several factors contributed to Ford’s decline. A few new or redesigned models, including the Explorer, Fiesta, and Focus, came out of the gate with more problems than normal. Ford has also added the MyFord/MyLincoln Touch electronic infotainment system, which has been problematic so far, to many vehicles. In addition, three historically reliable models—the Ford Escape and Fusion and the Lincoln MKZ—are not included in the analysis. They were redesigned for 2013, and we don’t know how the new versions will fare.

Only two years ago, Ford had cracked the top 10, and was “Detroit’s poster child for reliability”. Now, the brand is far behind in the standings, and Japanese auto makers are dominant yet again.

Toyota, on the other hand, excelled in our latest ratings. Its three brands—Scion, Toyota, and Lexus—swept the top spots. They were followed by four other Japanese makes: Mazda, Subaru, Honda, and Acura. All of the models produced by the top seven brands had average or better reliability. And of the 90 Japanese models reflected in our brand comparison, 86 were average or better, with 35 earning the highest rating.

Members of the “TTAC is biased against GM” crowd will be upset to note that we were impressed to see GM on the cusp of greatness, rising to 11th place this year. Remarkable gains were also made by Audi, which shot up to number 8 from its previous spot at number 26th.

Derek Kreindler
Derek Kreindler

More by Derek Kreindler

Comments
Join the conversation
4 of 202 comments
  • Ravenchris Ravenchris on Oct 30, 2012

    After skimming through 169+ replies this consumer reports vastly reduced interest in Ford products.

  • Jimmyy Jimmyy on Oct 30, 2012

    With Detroit scoring so poorly in Consumer Reports reliability, Toyota and Honda can save money by cutting the marketing budget. The buyers will just show up at Toyota and Honda dealers.

  • Alluster Alluster on Oct 30, 2012

    I want Ford to succeed and hopefully they can fix these issues at the earliest. Out of the Det 3, Ford seems to be the best managed and the most successful. They have worked hard and I am glad it is paying off(Record 3Q profits). Superficial or not, these issues are important enough for customers that they took the time to down rate Ford vehicles. I can really empathize with customers having issues with MFT, SYNC or Dual-Clutch transmissions. Some of it has to do with what we are comfortable with. I've always used TomTom GPS and will be lost if I had to use a Garmin, though I consider myself tech savvy. Once when i was using her car I got so frustrated and ended up using the GPS on my droid phone. That stupid Garmin thing will not let you pick a town if you didn't know the street you were going to. Was also very hard to cancel the current route and pick a new one. It wasn't user friendly in any way. My wife OTH has always used Garmins and would prolly fling a TomTom out the window if she had to ever use one. Its not that any of them are flawed, its just what you are always used to. Now, these are $100 devices that can easily be replaced or in most cases returned for a full refund. Imagine being stuck with a $30,000 car that is not user friendly(for you), one that cannot be returned or replaced without a significant loss.

  • Bloodnok Bloodnok on Nov 01, 2012

    myford touch is a pathetic effort. on my beast, it keeps warning me about a non-existent backup camera and fails to remember the usb play settings. but the best one is the "go" touch button superimposed over the scroll button when trying to enter a navigation destination. that one is just brilliant. however, i don't blame ford for anything beyond the inanity of hiring micro$£op to provide the system software. plus the car itself (focus st) is a beast.

Next