00
0

Tuesday, April 14, 2015

Connectivity Glitches Hinder Ford In C.R. Reliability Study

By Cornelius Nunev


The newly-released 2012 Consumer Reports dependability study found Toyota the most reliable car maker on the planet. Ford, once the survey's most dependable domestic producer, fell hard. However, some say the distinction is pretty moot.

Study of reliability

Evidently Japan makes the very best cars according to the Consumer Reports reliability survey where the top seven spots all went to Japanese car manufacturers. The top three went to Lexus, Toyota, and Toyota's Scion.

Dealers such as Michael's Toyota of Bellevue, Washington should be happy about that news. Toyota Motor Sales USA leader Jim Lentz said:

"We're pleased with the findings, which reflect actual customer experience, not just reviewer opinion."

Scion, Toyota and Lexus were at the top followed by Mazda Motors, Subaru, Honda, Acura, Audi, Infiniti and Kia.

The center and the bottom

The bottom 10 on the list integrated Jeep, Volvo, Buick, Mini, Chrysler, Dodge, Ram, Lincoln, Ford and Jaguar. The 11 through 18 spots involved Cadillac, GMC, Nissan, Mercedes-Benz, Chevrolet, BMW, Volkswagen and Hyundai.

Not what Ford hoped for

Consumer Reports ranked Ford as the most dependable car maker in the country two years back, making its low spot very unusual. Jaguar is anticipated, but Ford was not. The MyFord/MyLincoln touch electronic entertainment system connectivity issues were to blame for the fall.

There was evidently not enough to help redeem itself regardless of the truth that Ford did a software upgrade in order to help the system.

According to Ford spokesperson Mark Schirmer:

"Consumer Reports is hugely important to Ford; you can't dismiss Consumer Reports in any way. We offered a major improvement to MyFord Touch in the spring and began offering new transmission calibrations this summer. Unfortunately, there are still some bugs in the system that we are working through."

Study of readership

Unless a model was redesigned in the last three years that was the time frame where information was taken for the Consume Report dependability survey. It did not do vehicle testing but just surveyed its readership.

Nobody looks at report

Edmunds.com vice chairman Jeremy Anwyl explained that cars are much more dependable than they were years back. In fact, people will probably not even look at the report before making their decision. He said:

"The reality today is that cars are very reliable compared to what they were in the past. It is not something people should be really worrying about."




About the Author:



No comments:

Post a Comment