US brands falter in Consumer Reports auto reliability survey

U.S. auto companies such as General Motors, Tesla and Ford faltered this year in Consumer Reports' reliability rankings as readers reported more mechanical trouble with their vehicles.

The magazine said all U.S.-based brands fell to the bottom half of 29 brands in the rankings. At the top were Lexus, Toyota, Mazda, Subaru and Kia. The least reliable brands were Volvo, Cadillac, Tesla, Ram and GMC.

Consumer Reports got more than 500,000 responses to the annual survey of its subscribers, and it uses the data from the 2000-2017 model years to predict reliability of vehicles.

The survey released Wednesday found that readers are having more trouble with technology designed to increase fuel economy than they are with electronic infotainment systems, long a bugaboo for automakers and vehicle owners.