West Bloomfield, MI February 28, 2011 -- TrueDelta received a record number of responses to October's Car Reliability Survey--over 21,000. Updated car reliability stats have been posted to the site for 534 cars, up from 488 three month ago. There are partial results for another 378.
These stats cover through the end of 2010, making them at least eight months ahead of other sources.
We now have a solid result for the new 2011 Ford Fiesta, and at 88 repair trips per 100 cars per year it's not good. The Fiesta has suffered from common problems with the dual clutch transmission and the fuel gauge. There's a simple fix for the most common transmission problem, essentially cleaning an electrical ground and reprogramming the computer. But a few of these transmissions have failed entirely. The 2010 Ford Taurus has also been afflicted by a few common, if generally minor, problems. Ford does not appear to have tested either model thoroughly enough.
The "retro glitch" award goes to the Chevrolet Equinox and GMC Terrain, courtesy of headliners prone to falling down. This used to be a common problem, but has been rare in recent decades. And yet the aesthetically retro Camaro has had few problems of any kind in the past year.
The 2009 and 2010 Audi Q5 repair frequencies are now high thanks to plastic water pumps that are almost guaranteed to fail--another common problem that should have been caught prior to the start of production. Audi A4s and A6s also suffer from the same faulty pumps, but not as often. These pumps have now been recalled.
TrueDelta also has updated "nada-odds" and "lemon-odds" stats. These report the percentage of cars with no repairs and the percentage with 3+ repair trips in the past year, respectively. Among the 2010 for which we have these stats, the Audi Q5, Hyundai Genesis Coupe, and Ford Taurus were the most likely to require repairs, and by a substantial margin. In all three cases the chances of having at least one repair have been about fifty-fifty. The 2010 Jaguar XF would have been about the same if we'd had enough responses for it. The 2009 is about the same.
With the most reliable models (Toyota Prius, Toyota Yaris, Honda Insight, Honda Fit, Honda CR-V) your chances of a repair-free car throughout 2010 were about nine in ten.
Only among the least reliable cars (generally 8-plus-years-old and European) are your odds of 3+ repair trips in a year greater than one in ten.
To view the updated results:
Car Reliability Survey results
Nada-odds
About TrueDelta.com:
Owners of over 82,000 cars have joined TrueDelta.com to share information on reliability, real-world fuel economy, and their reasons for buying a particular car. Enthusiastic support from car owner forums, including AudiWorld,
EquinoxForum.net,
Fiesta Faction,
FitFreak.net, Genesis Owners,
Modern Camaro,
PriusChat, and Sorentosite, helped make the above results possible. In return for their participation, car owners receive full access to TrueDelta.com, for free.
Car owners can view the latest survey results and become involved at TrueDelta.com. Journalists interested in keeping up with TrueDelta's updates are encouraged to request a media account.
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