Ford tops among domestic automakers

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Ford has secured its position as the only Detroit automaker with world-class reliability. About 90 percent (46 of 51) of Ford, Mercury and Lincoln products were found to have average or better reliability, according to Consumer Reports’ 2009 Annual Car Reliability Survey.

Ford’s sustained production of vehicles that are as dependable — or better than — some of the industry’s best dispels the notion that only Japanese manufacturers make reliable cars. Other than the Toyota Prius, the reliability of the 4-cylinder Fusion and Milan ranks higher than that of any other family sedan. Both of those Ford Motor Co. products continue to beat the Honda Accord and Toyota Camry, while the upscale Lincoln MKZ tops its rivals, the Acura TL and Lexus ES.

CR’s Auto Survey is based on its subscribers’ experiences with 1.4 million vehicles. A model needs at least 100 responses for CR to score it. From the survey, CR creates a reliability history for each model over the course of 10 years, 2000 to 2009.

Consumer Report’s other findings include the following:

• A wide gulf separates the best from the worst. The least reliable vehicle, the Volkswagen Touareg, is 27 times more likely to have a problem than the most reliable car, the Honda Insight.

• Even good brands falter. Among the least reliable in their respective classes are the all-wheel-drive Lexus GS, the Nissan Versa sedan and the Subaru Impreza WRX.

• Five of the eight most reliable family cars are hybrids.

Visit the Consumer Reports Web site at www.consumerreports.org.

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