DETROIT - (WXYZ) - Consumer Reports Magazine is singling out Ford Motor Company from the rest of the Big 3, saying it is the only "Detroit automaker with world-class reliability."
The conclusion came as a result of the magazine's 2009 Annual Car Reliability Survey, which found that 90 percent of Ford, Lincoln and Mercury products have average or better reliability. The results of the survey were announced at today's Automotive Press Association luncheon in Detroit.
Consumer Reports singled out the the 4-cylinder Ford Fusion and Mercury Milan, reporting they ranked higher than almost any other family sedan. The only family sedan that was deemed more reliable was the Toyota Prius.
Both cars ranked higher than the Honda Accord and the Toyota Camry. It is rare for any family sedan to outperform those two models. The last car to beat them was the 2004 Buick Regal.
Ford's high reliability scores stretched across most of the company's fleet. For example, the new Ford Flex earned high marks and the Lincoln MKZ beat both the Acura TL and the Lexus ES. However, all vehicles in Ford's Lincoln division did not perform that well. The MKS, MKX and MKZ all performed below average. Those vehicles are essentially high-end versions of the Taurus, Edge and Fusion.
Consumer Reports' reliability ratings include results for more than 300 models. The survey found that the most reliable car was the Honda Insight. The least reliable was determined to be the Volkswagen Touareg, which the magazine says is 27 times more likely than the Insight to have a problem.
Despite Ford's high ratings, it was mixed results for the rest of the Big 3. Consumer Reports found several bright spots in the General Motors line-up, with 20 of the 48 GM models rated at average. The Chevrolet Malibu V6 even posted better-than-average scores, putting it on par with the most reliable family sedans.
The magazine also found a number of reliable products in GM's just released or proposed models. However, they are too new to be included in the reliability report.
Meanwhile, Consumer Reports did not find much to celebrate at Chrysler. The magazine reports the survey found that more than one-third of the company's products were rated at much worse than average.
However, the magazine did name one bright spot, the four-wheel-drive version of the Dodge Ram 1500 pickup. Consumer Reports now recommends the truck based on the results of road tests and its average reliability rating. No Chrysler products were recommended last year.
