Consumer Reports says Toyota, Honda and Ford are the best

According to an article I found at Time.com, Ford Motor Co. is the only domestic brand to match Toyota and Honda for reliability. Ninety percent of new Ford, Mercury and Lincoln products were found to have average or better expected reliabilty. This matched and even surpassed some scores posted by Toyota and Honda and their associated brands (Acura, Lexus, etc.).

Says David Champion, senior director of Consumer Reports Automotive Test Center, "It's rare for Consumer Reports to see family sedans from domestic car makers continue to beat the reliability scores of such highly regarded Japanese models as the Camry and Accord."

Officials at Ford are very happy with these results.

General Motors and Chrysler, companies that both accepted bailouts from the federal government (Ford did not), didn't do nearly as well as Ford. Not one Chrysler model made the list, with more than a third of them being labeled "much worse than average" in reliability. Only the Dodge Ram 1500 scored average. Jeep, Chrysler and Dodge (Chrysler's three brands) were among the four ranked worse in reliability.

There were a few products from GM that did well in the survey, but overall 28 of the 48 vehicles surveyed had below average ratings.



My initial reaction after reading the headline for this story was, "Of course Toyota and Honda, but Ford surprises me a little bit."

I happen to be a die hard Toyota fan. My first car was a 1987 Corolla. It treated me very well for 5 years. I hardly ever had a problem with that vehicle and it was still running great when I sold it at 230,000 miles. After that I had a 1994 Celica for 3 years and it treated me well also. In may of this year I traded that in for a new Matrix and so far, so good on my newest Toyota.

Seeing Ford mentioned in the same category as proven reliable brands like Toyota and Honda surprised me a little bit. The main reason for that is my personal experience. It seems that in many older (by older, I mean 1995 to 2005 or so, just not brand new cars) Fords there is this switch that flips at about 130,000 miles and everything starts to go wrong.

My parents had an 2001 F150 that blew the motor at 135,000 miles. My husband, who has always been a Ford driver had the same experience with a 1996 Ranger and a 2002 Taurus. Both started having multiple problems at around 130,000 miles. Maybe it's coincidence or maybe not, but it was enough to convince the husband anyway.

He has always made jokes about my "rice burner." His brother bought a Honda and got the same "rice burner" comments, all in good fun though. He said American cars were good enough and he didn't need to drive anything foreign. His dad was much the same way, and never drove anything but a Ford or Dodge.

Well, a few years ago his dad bought a new Jetta (VW is German) and slowly they both began to crack. My husband still bought the now defunct Taurus later the same year, stubborn as ever. He is the type of person who maintains a car very well, with regular oil changes and any other needed maintanence being done on time and done well, but it still had problems pretty regularly. I pointed out a time or several that, in the 3 years that we had both cars, my 1994 Celica had no issues while his 2002 Taurus was constantly needing some repair.

After a few years of fighting with the Taurus, he finally gave in and went foreign. As of this month he is the proud owner of a brand new Honda Fit. I have to say, it's kind of weird seeing him in his very own "rice burner," but he's super happy with it.

So, as far as my personal experience goes, you can probably see why I was surprised to see Ford at the top of the list of reliable vehicles. The more I thought about it though, I began to agree with the rating.

Since the other 2 of the "Big 3" accepted bailout money and Ford refused, saying they could get back on their feet with hard work, restructuring and some new ideas, Ford has really stepped up.

While Chrysler and GM remain "much worse than average" in reliability, Ford has really improved their vehicle lineup in many ways. I don't know about you, but I think that the styling is much better than in recent years. The cars are just more attractive and don't scream "boring famly sedan." Many have better MPG ratings than ever and apparently, better reliability ratings as well.

One thing still bugs me though. As close as the Toyota brand has always been to my heart and as good as my cars have treated me in the past, I'm still bothered by the fact that it's the 21st century and American auto makers are still struggling to make a reliable car that Americans want to buy. Because of poor sales, many brands have been cut from GM and Chrysler lineups. A few years ago, it was just Oldsmobile. Now Pontiac and Saturn have also been axed. What's next?

I'm glad to see that Ford has improved so much and I hope that Chrysler and GM can follow that example. It's about time America had an American car brand to be proud of.