Toyota is ranked tops in reliability, survey says

Toyota accounted for almost half of the industry's "most reliable" vehicles and again dominated an annual survey by Consumer Reports magazine.

With Toyota scoring 21 of the 47 autos with the highest rating for reliability, the results illustrate the challenges facing General Motors, Ford and Chrysler as they try to win back customers in their home market. While this and other surveys show improvements in quality, Detroit's automakers still lag behind Toyota and Honda, the No. 2 Japanese seller in the U.S.

Honda and its Acura luxury unit had 11 models on the list of the most reliable. GM and Ford each had three, and DaimlerChrysler, including Mercedes, had none. Toyota and its Lexus luxury brand also ranked first in six of 10 vehicle categories.

The absence of Chrysler vehicles from the most reliable list is "definitely a concern," said spokesman Sam Locricchio.

Donna Boland, a Mercedes-Benz spokeswoman, said she thought the report was "out of sync" with buyers' experiences. "We've been seeing an upward trend in quality," she said. "There is something off with that survey."

For GM, the survey's results "are not where we want them to be, but we do have a great improvement trend," said spokeswoman Janine Fruehan. Three of the automaker's minivans, including the Saturn Relay, were ranked as least reliable.

U.S. automakers have been making progress, said John Casesa, managing partner of Casesa Strategic Advisors in New York.

"The challenge is to convince consumers to buy them," he said.

Consumer Reports' findings were based on surveys of readers. The magazine uses that data along with vehicle tests to determine which models it recommends for purchase. The recommendations also incorporate safety data from U.S. government and insurance-industry crash tests.

Subaru had three vehicles on the most reliable list. Two other Japanese companies, Mitsubishi and Nissan — which includes Infiniti — had two each. Germany's BMW and South Korea's Hyundai had one.

Among the 47 most reliable this year were the Honda Fit small car, the Toyota Highlander hybrid midsize sport-utility vehicle, GM's Pontiac Vibe wagon and the Ford Fusion sedan, Consumer Reports said.