Japanes cars rank as most-reliable in the US

28 Oct 2014

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Japanese cars rank as the most reliable vehicles in the US with Lexus, Toyota and Mazda taking the top three spots. Honda came in at No 4. Dodge, Ram, Jeep and Fiat all Chrysler finished the four least reliable brands.

According to Jake Fisher of Consumer Reports, the organisation collected data on over a  million vehicles, so they could tell users which one was most and least likely to give users trouble. He added, they had data on 28 brands as well.

According to Fisher, Chrysler had traditionally had more than its fair share of trouble and the addition of Fiat in the mix had not helped.

The new Fiat 500L was ranked the least reliable car out of the 248 cars rated by Consumer Reports. Amongst American cars, the Lincoln rose 12 spots this year, and Buick made it to the top 10 list of reliable brands -- the only US car to do so.

Fisher said GM had been one of the better domestic brands in terms of reliability and Buick had often been their top brand.

The report cited a growing problem that should be of significant concern to carmakers, regardless of where their brands finished in the ranking, Business Insider reported.

"Multi-function, cross-linked infotainment systems and the associated in-car electronics are a growing reliability plague for many brands," the publication said in a statement.

"Of the 17 problem areas CR asks about in its survey, the category including in-car electronics generated more complaints from owners of 2014 models than for any other category."

Automakers had made heavy investments in infotainment systems after consumers started demanding them in a wide variety of vehicles. Further, the entire auto industry was looking forward to a future in which in-car electronics, displays, related infotainment systems, and advanced self-driving features would be increasingly prevalent, if not dominant.

Engineering a highly reliable car could be difficult enough from a strictly mechanical standpoint. There were quite literally a lot of moving parts and when a whole new cluster of technologies was involved it created additional pressures - and to a certain extent enabled Consumer Reports' testers better opportunities to detect flaws.

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