USA TODAY International Edition
Tesla reliability falls in Consumer Reports survey
Tesla may be riding high when it comes to wowing luxury car buyers, but it has fallen to near bottom of the pack when it comes to Consumer Reports magazine’s latest auto reliability survey rankings.
The electric-car maker came in third from the bottom in the rankings of 29 brands in the survey released Wednesday. The only brands worse than Tesla, which fell six places from last year’s survey, were Volvo and Cadillac.
The best auto brand in the survey was Lexus, followed by Toyota and Mazda, which moved up nine places. Seven of the top 10 brands come from Japan or South Korea.
By contrast, Detroit automakers fared poorly. The highest-ranking American brand, Ford, doesn’t show up until 18th place. It was followed by Buick, Lincoln, Dodge, Jeep, Chevrolet, Chrysler, GMC and Ram before it comes to Tesla.
“The domestics are suffering from a few new products,” said Jake Fisher, Consumer Reports’ director of auto testing. He said reliability of some General Motors’ redesigns “have taken a tumble,” Ford continues to have issues with its latest in-car connectivity system and Fiat Chrysler “remains at the bottom of the list.”
Cadillacs, for instance, “drive so well” and can “go toe-to-toe” with the imports but suffer from reliability issues, he said. Cadillac was down a single place from the year before in the survey.
Consumer Reports’ ratings are among the most closely watched because the publication is notoriously independent. Its reliability ratings are based on what readers say about the vehicles they have bought.
When brands fare poorly, it is often because automakers haven’t worked the bugs out of otherwise solid new models they have introduced. Tesla, however, was brought down by a poor showing by the Model S luxury sedan, which has been on the market for about six years, said Jake Fisher, director of auto testing for the magazine.
New features added such as air suspension brought down its rating.
“The truth is the Model S is not an aging model. It’s constantly being redesigned under the skin,” Fisher said. Tesla, because of its ability to make changes in its models using over-theair software updates in many cases, experiences “these growing pains differently than traditional car companies.”
Tesla said in a statement that the suspension issue was due to a supplier issue and has been resolved. It “did not pose any threat to vehicle safety or drivability, and presented itself only when the car was parked.”
While owners may ding the electric cars on reliability, Tesla, in its statement, pointed out that the same model has been tops among owners in overall satisfaction in a survey by Consumer Reports.