Posted on 11/18/2021 4:35:07 PM PST by MNJohnnie
Vehicles from Tesla Inc. and electric sport utilities from rival brands are among the least reliable models sold in the United States, a reflection of the risks of new technology, Consumer Reports said on Thursday.
Consumer Reports, a nonprofit organization that evaluates products and services, said Tesla, the world’s most valuable automaker, ranked 27th out of 28 brands, just ahead of Ford Motor Co.’s Lincoln brand.
“Electric SUVs as a vehicle category is the absolute bottom in terms of reliability,” Consumer Reports director of vehicle testing Jake Fisher said Thursday during a presentation to the Detroit Automotive Press Association.
Among electric SUVs, Fisher said Ford Motor Co.’s Mustang Mach-E “is the only one with above-average reliability.”
Consumer Reports recommends the Tesla Model 3 sedan and rates its reliability as “average.” But Fisher said the rest of Tesla’s vehicles are below average.
The popular Model Y SUV, Tesla’s best-selling vehicle, has problems with poorly fitting body panels, leaks, and issues with its climate control, Fisher said.
The larger Model X SUV “still has problems with the falcon wing doors,” Fisher said.
Consumer Reports has been critical of Tesla’s Autopilot and Full Self Driving automated driving systems. Fisher said Consumer Reports still has concerns that drivers will rely too much on technology that cannot safely take over driving, but that did not factor into the reliability scores.
“Full Self Driving is not full self-driving at all,” Fisher said. “It’s a convenience feature.”
Electric vehicle drive systems, or powertrains, are not the main source of problems, Fisher said. The issues reported by owners are with other features.
Manufacturers “are using EVs as a technological test bed,” Fisher said. “Those are the things that go wrong.”
The top-ranked brand overall in the survey was Lexus, and eight of the ten top-scoring brands were Japanese. That continues a long-running trend.
Well, to be fair, it doesn’t have to be too reliable when you have to recharge it every few hours anyway. But hey, you’re “saving the planet”, so it’s all good.
Notice that Toyota is slow to go to full-electric (NOT hybrid) despite government incentives.
I already knew that from Scotty Kilmer.
The recent conference held on the future of Electric automobiles was an hour and a half...not once did they even mention "Tesla".
I bet if Tesla weren't made in California, but in Texas, Tennessee or Kentucky in a non-union shop, reviews would be better.
"Car People" left California years ago. What's left now is "people who need jobs".
If Consumer Reports is dissing Tesla, it must be really bad.
poorly fitting body panels, leaks, and issues with its climate control
These sound like quality problems that might affect a new manufacturer, whereas established manufacturers may have "leaned out" fit-gap issues, leaks, etc.
‘Consumer Reports’ had better get with the program. Communists call folks who oppose their economic plans “wreckers”. You don’t want to be called a modern-day wrecker, do ya, CR?
Tesla isn’t on the Dem preferred list because they’re non-union. The proposed Brandon bill gives a rebate for electrics but a smaller amount for non-union mfg electrics.
You may have no other choice in the distant future
An eye opener for the “electrify everything” crowd: https://principia-scientific.com/electric-vehicles-on-collision-course-with-reality/
Toyota likes hydrogen...
Consumer Reports does not know how to properly test electric vehicles, as they do not take into account that most people buying them DO NOT intend to drive them (other than to ‘social gatherings’, maybe) - instead they buy them to hold their noses up at fossil fuel drivers. So what CR should have done was look at the car, and if the car looked sporty and was electric powered, then give it Super-High ratings.
I hate to see Tesla denigrated because their cars aren’t reliable, since most of their buyers don’t actually need the car for transportation, so reliability (ick, mechanical stuff) isn’t needed.
“Electric SUVs as a vehicle category is the absolute bottom in terms of reliability,”
But it’s for the Greater Good.
Never say never, but to paraphrase Orson Welles, "we will buy no EV before its time."
That’s nothing new. Consumer Reports only compiles data from owners of the vehicles, at least for the year end reports. I’ve never quite figure it out how the owners of Tesla’s vehicles have reported back to Consumer Reports data that indicates that Tesla Customer Satisfaction is one number one, yet also report the quality of their vehicles is near the bottom of the 32 brands. Stepford Car Owners?
Another paid hit piece like they pulled on Suzuki’s?
Smacks forehead half way to work with dead battery. “Crap. I forgot to plug it in last night.” “AAA will bring me 5 gallons of electricity.”
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