We’ve got some good news and some bad news. Which do you want first? We’ll start with the bad. Not long ago it seemed as if the red unhappy faces in our reliability stats might be on the way to extinction, at least among recent cars. Well, with the latest Car Reliability Survey stats, which cover through the end of September 2013, they’re back. While last year not a single 2012 or 2013 model received the dreaded red mark, this time around five did, the most since 2009.
The five: 2014 Jeep Grand Cherokee, 2013 Dodge Dart, 2013 Ford Fusion, and 2013 Nissan Altima and Pathfinder
Chrysler cannot seem to tweak the Jeep Grand Cherokee without introducing some new bugs. When this model was last fully redesigned, for 2011, it had a glitchy first year. The new Dart was okay initially, but has gotten worse and worse in recent quarterly updates. The situation could have been worse for Ford, but the C-MAX and Escape ducked back into the yellow zone, where you’ll also find the Focus ST. The Escape and Fusion suffer from poor panel fits, while the Escape and C-MAX have a tailgate latch prone to failure. The Focus ST’s original motor mount didn’t sufficiently restrain the engine during hard launches and shifts.
The biggest story could be the Nissans. Three months ago the Altima was already faring poorly, but the Pathfinder was among the happy faces. The latter isn’t hard to explain. We initially grouped the Pathfinder with the related Infiniti JX. But the Pathfinder, like the new Maxima, received a new, more efficient CVT (continuously variable transmission), and this transmission has been misbehaving, with many owners reporting a shudder at low speeds. The JX received this transmission late in the 2013 model year. All 2014 Infiniti QX60s have it, so we probably can again group the two models for this model year.
Notably, three updated Hyundais, the Elantra GT, Genesis Coupe, and Santa Fe, now have scores in the yellow zone. It could be worse: last quarter the Santa Fe was in the red. Still, it’s easy to see why some Korean executives recently resigned due to product quality shortfalls.
Will anyone similarly accept responsibility for quality slips at Ford and Nissan?
Bad news now out of the way, plenty of updated models have been highly reliable. First year glitches might still happen, but they don’t always happen. Among early 2014s, the Forester and Mazda6 have had a great start. Among updated 2013s, the Audi A4 (and related models), Honda Accord, Honda Civic, Lexus RX, and Toyota RAV4 are in the green.
To check out the latest stats: