Reliability

The Tesla Model S has slipped back off Consumer Reports recommended list, due to a dip in reliability, as the consumer organization assesses it. Suspension problems are to blame, reported CR. In 2017 Tesla made its air suspension standard on the Model S, and all versions were dual-motor (all-wheel...

Tesla was ranked 25th out of 29 car brands in Consumer Reports' reliability rankings.

The Toyota Prius has the lowest average maintenance costs over 10 years of any model, according to website YourMechanic.

Our recent article on the reliability implications of a Plug-In America survey of early Tesla Model S owners was met with skepticism from the company's supporters, and support from its skeptics. But in a counter-intuitive Freakonomics-style twist, it's the firm's fans who should hope the results...

With almost 100,000 on the world's roads, the Tesla Model S electric car is a remarkable achievement. It remains the longest-range electric car in volume production more than three years after it launched. But reliability issues with electric traction motors in early cars--those from the 2012 and...

Every honeymoon comes to an end sooner or later, and so it was with Consumer Reports and its former paramour, the Tesla Model S electric car. As part of its yearly reliability report on cars sold in the U.S. market, the respected consumer magazine said it could no longer recommend the Model S...

New research shows that the average age of U.S. cars has reached a record high.

An Ohio owner claims to have covered nearly 250,000 miles in his Chevy Volt.

It is one of the more remarkable features of the Tesla Model S electric luxury sedan: door handles that retract flush with the body until needed. But the retracting door handles proved tricky in practice; owner of early Model S cars reported that quite a lot of them had to be replaced under...

Turbocharger cooling demands overtax batteries in V-8 BMWs.

The Tesla Model S tops the Consumer Reports customer satisfaction rankings for the second year in a row.

Consumer Reports tallies reliability issues with its 2012 Tesla Model S.

Modern vehicles are derided in some circles for their complexity, but in reality cars are more reliable today than they've ever been. Sure, stuff still goes wrong--but it usually does so with such infrequency we just notice more. Cars go and stop when we ask, and they're capable of massive mileages...

Automaker Honda used to be the darling of Consumer Reports, with its models perpetually scoring better than average in CR testing. The 2012 Honda Civic dampened the publication’s enthusiasm for the Honda brand; it was the first Honda Civic we can recall that wasn’t recommended by CR...

Buyers of hybrids have long known that they can be surprisingly reliable, as well as costing little to run on a daily basis. The 2012 Annual Auto Reliability Survey from Consumer Reports has confirmed this once again. As reported via The New York Times, the Consumer Reports survey predicts the...

On March 28, 2011, I took delivery of a European-specification 2011 Nissan Leaf. Yesterday, a few days short of our 1-year anniversary with the car, its odometer passed the 15,000 mile mark. But what have we learned about Nissan’s first electric car after living with it daily for a year?...

Volkswagen's TDI diesel engines have long attracted fans and repeat buyers. But now a second investigation this year into the reliability of its TDI engines may cast a shadow over its newest fuel-efficient clean-diesel vehicles. The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration last week launched...

Ford has issued data showing remarkable reliability among the battery packs and electric motors in its hybrid vehicles, not the least of them the ones used in grueling taxi service in cities like New York and San Francisco.

Two early customer satisfaction issues on the 2011 Chevy Volt are being addressed by dealers: a front air dam that's too low, and intermittent blank displays on the instrument cluster.

In 2011 a crack task force was sent to the United States by a Japanese manufacturer for a car that's making headlines. These men were promptly trained to be experts in their field. Today, wanted by thousands of owners, they survive as a rapid response unit. If you have a problem, if no one else can...