Ford shows improvement in Consumer Reports reliability survey

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Asian automakers once again dominate the upper ranks of Consumer Reports’ annual vehicle-reliability survey, although Ford Motor Co. is making strides in improving the dependability of its cars and light trucks.

Ford’s sustained production of vehicles that are as dependable as — or better than — some of the industry’s best models dispels the notion that only Japanese manufacturers make reliable cars, the consumer magazine reported today.

The four-cylinder Ford Fusion and its cousin, the Mercury Milan, ranked higher in predicted reliability than any family sedan in the CR survey save the Toyota Prius. The cars beat out the Honda Accord and Toyota Camry, while the Lincoln MKZ, a product of Ford’s luxury division, topped the rival Acura TL and Lexus ES, products of Honda Motor Co. and Toyota Motor Corp., respectively.

“It’s rare for Consumer Reports to see family sedans from domestic carmakers continue to beat the reliability scores of such highly regarded Japanese models as the Camry and Accord,” said David Champion, senior director of the magazine’s automotive test center. The last domestic sedan that had better reliability than the Camry and Accord was the Buick Regal in 2004, he noted.

Overall, 46 of 51 Ford, Lincoln and Mercury products were found to have average or better predicted reliability.

That said, Asian nameplates were the clear overall winners in the annual survey, which collected responses on vehicle reliability from 1.4 million subscribers to Consumer Reports magazine and its companion website, ConsumerReports.org. The responses, which covered ownership experiences with vehicles from model years 2000 to 2009, are used by the magazine’s researchers to predict the reliability of 2010 model-year vehicles.

Toyota’s Scion brand finished first, followed by Honda, Toyota, Nissan’s Infiniti brand, Acura, Mitsubishi, Lexus and Hyundai of Korea. All Honda and Acura vehicles are rated as having average or above-average reliability.

German automaker Porsche, at No. 8, is the highest-ranked non-Asian company.

Mercury is the highest-rated domestic brand, ranked 10th, and Ford is 16th overall. Among other U.S. brands, Buick is 19th, Chevrolet 25th and Cadillac 32nd. Chrysler and its Dodge and Jeep brands occupy three of four bottom slots in the rankings. The vehicle with the highest predicted reliability is the Honda Insight hybrid, while the worst is the Volkswagen Touareg SUV.

CR noted that even brands with overall high reliability scores can turn out the occasional turkey. Among the least reliable vehicles in their respective classes are the all-wheel-drive Lexus GS, the Nissan Versa sedan and the Subaru Impreza WRX.

The two brands that showed the most improvement from last year’s survey were Porsche and Saab of Sweden. Mini, which is owned by BMW, took the biggest hit, falling 14 rungs to No. 27.

The full results of the reliability survey, which includes results on more than 300 models, will be available on CR’s subscription website and in the December issue of the magazine, which goes on sale Nov. 3. You can also read more about it on the CR blog.

-- Martin Zimmerman