General Motors’ Cadillac was the least reliable of 30 brands, followed by Alfa Romeo, Acura, Volkswagen and Jeep. The remaining least-reliable brands were Chevrolet, Volvo, Tesla, GMC and Mercedes-Benz.
Jake Fisher, Consumer Reports’ director of auto testing, said auto companies are making more changes faster, and that’s causing more complaints from owners of new or redesigned models. Generating frequent complaints are transmissions with more gears that make cars and trucks run more efficiently to meet government fuel economy standards. For years, car companies used four-speed automatic transmissions with few problems, but now they’re adding speeds, Fisher said. “We’re seeing a lot of manufacturers having problems with eight, nine, 10-speed transmissions,” he said. “I don’t think we’ve really seen that extent before.”
Wait and see
Readers reported that the transmissions can jerk, shift roughly and slip, sometimes becoming a safety concern, Fisher said. Owners of Ford’s F-150 pickup, the top-selling vehicle in the U.S., reported numerous problems with a new 10-speed transmission. GM, which developed the transmission jointly with Ford, also had problems with it, according to the survey, Fisher said.
Consumer Reports recommends that shoppers check to see if a new vehicle they’re considering has been recently redesigned. Fisher said the most reliable vehicles often are in the final year of a particular model run, and deals often are available on them. He suggests waiting two or three years after a redesign to give the companies time to fix bugs that can develop.