Melissa Burden, The Detroit News
General Motors Co. Buick brand soared in Consumer Reports annual auto reliability rankings, moving up four spots to finish third behind Lexus and Toyota.
The GM premium brand was praised by the influential magazine for its best showing by a domestic brand in 35 years.
“Buick’s achievement is commendable and sure to be a wake-up call to other manufacturers,” Jake Fisher, Consumer Reports’ director of automotive testing, said in a statement. “One reason why the brand has been able to leapfrog others in the General Motors’ stable has been its limited vehicle lineup — with none of the pickups and truck-based SUVs that have negatively impacted Cadillac and Chevrolet.”
Tesla for the first time is ranked, coming in No. 25 out of 29 brands studied. This year, Tesla was included because it met the criteria of having at least two vehicles to evaluate with the launch of the Model X SUV. Consumer Reports says the Model X had a number of problems with its launch, including malfunctioning falcon-wing doors, leaks, infotainment and climate control issues.
It did move the Model S from worse-than-average to average reliability. Last year, the magazine had pulled its “buy” recommendation for the electric luxury car after downgrading its reliability from average.
The 2016 Annual Auto Reliability Survey was shared Monday at the Automotive Press Association in Detroit and will be included in the magazine’s December issue.
The survey includes responses from Consumer Reports subscribers who owned or leased more than half a million vehicles. The vehicles include more than 300 models and date from model year 2000 to 2017. The brand rankings are based on an average predicted reliability score given to each of brand model.
Subscribers are asked to share experiences in the past year in 17 trouble areas such as engine and transmission, climate control and audio systems to noises and faded paint and/or rust. Major issues are weighed more heavily in scores.
The study found Audi, Kia, Mazda, Hyundai and Infiniti, which jumped 16 spots to land at No. 8, to also to be among the more reliable brands.
Read the complete article in The Detroit News, with a list of the rankings.
