How Asian, Domestic, and European Automakers Rank for Car Reliability
CR’s exclusive reliability ratings can help you choose a new car that is likely to be dependable now and years down the road
Today it’s easier to find a new car or SUV than it was two or three years ago. But the market is shifting, with fewer small cars, many redesigned and all-new models, and more electrified options.
With this variety comes the potential for reliability headaches, whether because a fresh model has a new complicated powertrain or because there’s still a snag in the supplier network.
How We Score Reliability
Every year, CR asks its members about problems they’ve had with their vehicles in the previous 12 months. This year, we gathered data on over 330,000 vehicles, from the 2000 to 2023 model years, with a few from the 2024 model year that were introduced early.
We study 20 trouble areas, from nuisances—such as squeaky brakes and broken interior trim—to major bummers, such as potential expensive out-of-warranty engine, transmission, EV battery, and EV charging problems. We use that information to give reliability ratings for every major mainstream model. (Note: Charging problems reported by members are with the vehicle, not with home or public chargers. Learn more about the trouble spots that signal car reliability problems.)
We weight the severity of each type of problem to create a predicted reliability score for each vehicle, from 1 to 100. We use that information to give reliability ratings for every major mainstream vehicle. (The reliability rating is then combined with data collected from our track testing, as well as our owner satisfaction survey results and safety data, to calculate each tested vehicle’s Overall Score.)
This year we have addressed the rapidly growing number of electrified offerings that automakers are producing: hybrids, plug-in hybrid-electric vehicles (PHEVs), and electric vehicles (EVs). As a result, we added three new trouble areas: electric motor, EV/hybrid battery, and EV charging.
- Internal combustion engine (ICE) vehicles have 17 potential trouble areas.
- EVs can have up to 12 trouble areas, because traditional ICE problems are not included, such as engine and transmission.
- Hybrids have 19 potential trouble areas; 17 from ICE vehicles, as well as electric motor and EV battery.
- PHEVs can experience all 20 trouble areas; 17 from ICE vehicles, as well as electric motor, EV battery, and EV charging.
Shopping by Region
Because many buyers still shop with the location of a company’s headquarters in mind, we present how every mainstream automaker performed in this year’s survey, broken out into Asian, domestic, and European regions.
Asian automakers are still leading reliability by a wide margin with an overall reliability average score of 63 for the region, on a scale of 1 to 100. Seven of the 10 most reliable brands were from Asian automakers.
European automakers are in second place at 46, with three brands filling out the rest of the top 10 most reliable brands.
Domestic brands trail both with an average score of 39. Each domestic automaker had at least one model that had an average or better reliability ranking, and Buick’s entire lineup scored average or better.
We highlight the most important reliability news below, explaining where cars have done well and where they have seen their reliability slip. CR members can click through the brand names for a detailed breakdown of the past and predicted reliability for each model from that automaker. (See how the brands rank and look up individual models.)
