Ford’s fall from grace with Consumer Reports has been breathtaking. The brand finished in second-to-last place, 27th of 28, in the magazine’s closely watched, newly released automotive-reliability ratings — just three years after the bible of product quality praised Ford as the only domestic automaker with “world-class reliabilty.”
Stunningly, Ford still apparently hasn’t corrected its huge problems — real and perceived — with its MyFord Touch system, which continues to confuse some customers even a year and a half after Ford publicly acknowledged the usability problems with what is essentially Sync 2.0.
“They’ve put out some updates to try to address some of those problems for both the transmissions and the infotainment controls, but it doesn’t seem to be enough,” Jake Fisher, director of testing for Consumer Reports, commented on the most and least reliable rankings to the Detroit Free Press.[more]
Ford has been trying to fix the problems with MyFord Touch in the hardware in new models and by sending out a complete software upgrade in older models, and yet Consumer Reports surveys of customers show that the automaker still isn’t getting the job done. J.D. Power auto surveys also have been tough on Ford.
The problem is beginning to threaten much of what Ford, under CEO Alan Mulally, has accomplished over the last few years as esteem for its new products and their features largely has continued to climb along with regard for its brand, as Ford has achieved its resurgence without benefit of a federal bailout, unlike domestic rivals GM and Chrysler. The continued reliability problems also are whacking away at the early brand equity established by Ford in what has become the crucial infotainment arena of the auto market.
Ford spokesman Mark Schirmer told Automotive News that the company knows “we have areas to address, and we have been working on them and we have been making progress. Our internal data … show that we are improving in these areas, and we expect that will be reflected in next year’s … survey.”
Toyota cemented another brick into its solid return by seeing three of its brands nab the top three spots in the Consumer Reports‘ reliability ranking — Scion, then Toyota and then Lexus — in the annual survey, which analyzes subscribers’ experiences with 1.2 million new vehicles to predict future reliability.
As the Los Angeles Times noted, the Consumer Reports reliability report “came out on the same day when Toyota Executive Vice President Yukitoshi Funo told reporters in Japan that the automaker will surpass the record 9.37-million vehicles it sold in 2007 and set a new industry record for global auto sales this year.”
Cadillac, at 11th, was judged the most reliable domestic brand, improving from 25th last year. Audi surged 10 spots, to 8th, as the only German brand in the top 10. Mazda was 4th, followed by Subaru, Honda, Acura, Audi, Infiniti and Kia.
The 10 least reliable cars in the new Consumer Reports ranking:
- Ford Explorer (V6, 4WD)
- Ford Focus (hatchback)
- Jaguar XF
- Mini Cooper Countryman
- Ford Explorer (V6, 2WD)
- Lincoln MKX
- Ram 2500 (turbodiesel)
- Jaguar XJ*
- Lincoln MKT*
- Ford Flex EcoBoost
As the New York Times notes, what are consumers to make of the difference between Consumer Reports and JD Power surveys? “As for consumers trying to figure out how to use this sometimes conflicting, sometimes similar information, the comforting ideal would be to find a brand or model that does well in each of the studies, although that might be a challenge.”