GM Brands Slammed In Latest Consumer Reports Reliability Survey
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General Motors didn’t make out all too well in the latest Consumer Reports Reliability Survey. The non-profit organization ranked GM brands towards the bottom of the list.
The reliability survey comes from owner responses, which CR said it received feedback on more than 500,000 vehicles in the latest survey. Vehicles spanned the 2000-2018 model years and covered 300 models.
The biggest fall from grace was the Buick brand. The brand placed eighth last year but tumbled 11 spots to 19th place. That’s a major fall from 2016 when Buick became the first U.S. auto brand to crack the top three rankings since data collection began in the 1980s.
Owners cited issues with the 2018 Buick Enclave’s nine-speed automatic transmission as a real sour point. And it gets worse from there.
Buick was the best-ranked GM brand in the latest survey. Chevrolet placed 23rd, down from 18th place; GMC placed 25th, up from 26th place; and Cadillac held steady in 28th place. The luxury division was the second-worst ranked brand, only behind Volvo. The only Cadillac vehicle deemed “better than average” was the XTS sedan, coincidentally enough.
Ford placed 18th, down from 15th place, and FCA’s brands (Dodge, Jeep and Chrysler) placed 21st, 22nd and 24th, respectively.
Each GM brand has hovered toward the bottom of rankings for years, but this year’s list included a few bright spots. CR gave its recommendation nod to the Cadillac XTS, Chevrolet Cruze and Chevrolet Suburban. Each vehicle earned good scores in the reliability survey.
Domestic brands continue to perform poorly in the survey partially due to adding some untested technologies. As GM tries to play catch up with new turbocharged engines, transmissions with more gears and other technologies, the likelihood something hasn’t been entirely ironed out increases.
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Cold, hard facts again. You can’t buy Consumer Reports. New GM is like old GM. A welfare queen with a new name is still a welfare queen.
How’s your check engine light today?
Go back under your bridge troll!
You speak the truth. I have a ‘14 Chevy Sonic. I’ve done everything I can to maintain that car. I’ve had to replace the following:
Transmission
Water Pump
Alternator
Radiator
Catalytic Converter
Purge Valve
Sway Bar Links
Front Struts
Strut Mounts
Air Intake Hose
… and a Chevy dealership called to ask if I’m in the market for a new car.. I told him, ‘if I was, it wouldn’t be a GM product’.
As a 2012 Sonic 1.4T owner, I feel your pain
I bet you drive the car a lot thus the repairs. Duh.
I bought the vehicle certified Pre-owned with 15k miles. Reason why I purchased it was because of affordability, and the extended warranty that lasts until 100k for the powertrain. I reached 97.5k miles in March 2018. I had my transmission fluid changed less than 300 miles after 97.5k. The service technician who replaced my transmission fluid even stated that my transmission was in great shape for how many miles it had on it, and most times he’d see more wear. I drove across the country, and ended my trip with 105,431mi. My transmission was making a winding noise in the first 2 gears. I was on my way to a chevy dealership to have it checked out. On my way, the transmission popped out of gear. My drive indicator went away, check engine light came on, service vehicle soon light came on. I could still drive it, but the tachometer was all over the place. My point is, I have all my service records for this car, have taken every bit of maintenance for it to the dealer, and the transmission failed in less than 8k miles after a clean bill of health… If people knew they were going to be f*cked this hard, they wouldn’t buy the vehicle. That’s just what GM did to me. My next vehicle won’t be a GM product. It won’t be an ICE. It’ll be an electric car. Less mechanical parts, less maintenance, no oil changes, less engine noise, more comfortable, less expensive to charge, increased longevity and durability. It’s the future regardless of what people say.
I have a 2013 Chevy Sonic with 187,000 miles. The car has been nothing but bulletproof!
Just regular maintainance.
Does not burn oil, as the dipstick is full at every oil change.
Look at all of these likes compared to dislikes…
“I like things that support beliefs I already have!”
Anyone hear heard of “cognitive dissonance?” If not, look it up.
Tom, though… Seriously, I am happy you haven’t had any issues. As a GM employee that decided to leave due to the massive headaches their vehicles cause their owners, who in turn, caused me headaches, it’s nice to see. Good luck, and God bless.
Literally so many butt hurt GM fans. ?? GM makes sub-par quality vehicles. Only built to last the warranty, and after that most of them begin to wither away. The reason GM sells extended warranties? Because they know you’ll need it.
Funny between the wife and I, we’ve owned three 2014-18 GM trucks and SUV’s. They have never let us down. My 2014 Silverado 1500 has 140k miles on it now and no issue aside from basic recalls ffor software updates. Her mother has a 2006 Saturn Ion with 285k miles on it. The only repairs were caused by collisions with animals and a tire change shop that destroyed the lugnuts and wheel studs. The ecotec 4cylikder even has the original timing chain.
.
Like Ive said before any car whether its Toyota or Gm can be reliable and some can not. There isn’t a such thing as a perfect car in this unperfected world.
all brands offer extended warranties and I never had one –all my GM Oldsmobiles & Buicks (15) racked up over 150K were sold when we purchased another I have too say that’s good enough fir us
Do you enjoy spending your free time in the shop?
Depends on how much you drive whether you need an extended warranty. Treat a f-n car right and it should do you right.
Charles, I’m looking for advise. I need you to tell me what more I needed to do to treat my f-n car right. My wife’s Cadillac ATS was sitting in the driveway all washed, cleaned, polished, fluids checked, oil changed, tires aired up. Just ran home from work for lunch break. When she got back in her WELL TAKEN CARE OF CADILLAC ATS the JUNK CUE SCREEN WAS DELAMINATED. Please tell me HOW to prevent it because there are literally thousands of us that want to know.
4 Impala’s 3 that had well into the 170-180K mile range and not one ever left me stranded or needed an engine or transmission replaced. Surprise! My current 2017 has been 100% for the 23K miles I have owned it so far. My butt feels just fine thank you
Why are you here? Did you lose your way back to the bridge you crawled out from under?
I guess all my GMs with well over 100k and zero problems aren’t apart of these equations…
I also have driven GM over 37. Most I drove well over 100K some with troubles some without never said a word to anyone just fixed and moved on. However the last 3 – 2014,2015,2017, have had troubles. I’m not in any way saying that more GM vehicles have troubles than ones that do not have troubles. BUT if you get one of the ones that have troubles it is a HORRIBLE experience.
As a retired person who drives two days a week, (for extra income), I drive Dodge & Kia vans with 250K to 300K miles: both continue to drive well and tight. I have been a GM fan all my life. After 50 years of driving: I have an old Buick, and for a new vehicle, I bought a Jeep. Somewhere along the line, GM has lost the way to the heart.
Every GM vehical I ever had has been great. Over 200k on a GMC Envoy, had and olds Delta 88 with 180k on it, had a Cobalt with 150k before I traded it for a Camaro and I have a Chevy Cruze now as well. I always get from point A to point B with no issues.
2017 Impala 2.5 just turned 22K with zero issues so far. In fact all 4 of my Impala’s have been really good vehicles.
You only have 22k miles…. ? Of course nothing has went wrong.
Well I know plenty of Jeep/Hyundai/Honda and Ford owners that had has multiple issues with less than 10K miles. This survey of CR involves owners of the years listed with new cars in the first couple of years ownership. Miles can range from 5K to 50K. I was stating that so far in 22 or now 23K miles that my 4th Impala has been 100% reliable.
Gm went way down hill expessilly with customer satisfaction. I have a 90buick Skylark has a great engine 00 Buick regal gs supercharged 240000 still no issues. Then we got a 12 Chevy Captiva let me tell you this is the biggest piece of s**t gm has. Not only is it a load of rolling junk, we purchased the extended warranty on top of still having manafacturing warranty to only be told by our Ed bozarth in Topeka KS and by gm Corp. That they will not cover the 5000+ of repairs need. Not only that they lied for 2 years about the repair needing to be done. Then magically just after the 100000 warrant is up then they see the issue milage of 101000ish . U think we’ll it’s ok the extended warranty will cover this nope it sure won’t. Not only that but it was in the shop 8 times an I work on cars myself and told them each time what to look for and what if was….. Nope 9th time after demanding there best mechanic to speak with me he found it . What a waste of a dealership. And when you contact gm Corp u are expecting then to help you. Nope. I was told they stand by the descions of there dealer’s…. O wait gm you stand by those crooks . No thanks gm you have alot of making up to do before I purchase a vehicle again from u. Unfortunate for you I am purchasing 2 new vehicles after the first of the year. Won’t be gm. Won’t be from Ed bozarth. Gm own up to your mistakes and stop siding with the crooks you call dealers
Have purchased 21 GM vehicles for private and business. Have had very few problems thru out the years.
Chevy Cruz tough little car as well as Impala’s that we have owned.
Wake up , GM!
It’s tough reading that the “New GM” is being outpaced in quality by other global manufactures. Luckily my wife’s 2012 Equinox has been flawless since new, even the tires lasted 101k. We fully expect to replace it with a new Equinox Diesel in a new years unless she wants something larger.
Even the mighty Silverado HD is near the bottom of CR’s 10 worst list, with the RAM 3500 at the very bottom. SERIOUSLY? I am getting ready to replace my 07 GMC Dually with a 2019, and can’t imagine buying another truck besides a GM. But its pretty hard to hear the trucks you know and love are considered bottom of the barrel for quality after running my 06 2500 DMax/manual for 270k since new and having 235k on the 07 Dually.
I hope GM’s ranking on CR’s list does not tarnish my experience with a new Chevy 3500 Diesel Dually…
Ok, I’ve lost confidence in CR. The Cruze?! I was given one as a rental for a day. In 30+ years of driving, I had never driven a worse car. This, coming from a guy who bought an “early launch Hyundai Excel”. Uhhg.
Overall I’ve had only normal wear and tear on all the Chevys I’ve owned and few repairs until we bought a 2013 Traverse new. We use this vehicle as our family hauler and take excellent care of our vehicles. But after 56,000 miles, we have now had the front struts replaced, front hubs and steering knuckle replaced, a belt tensioner pulley replaced, a/c compressor and related parts replaced, master window switch replaced and now the valve body in the transmission. Most unreliable Chevy Ive ever owned. The engines seems to be louder than it use to be also. Idk if we have a lemon or are all Traverses this bad? Seems like the Silverado was the most dependable of all of them.
I wish my 07 acadia would hold up as well as my 78 catalina oh I forgot they don’t make them like that anymore
Consumer Reports and JD Power are “THE” authority. What do you GM fanatics expect? Detroit is basically an assembler of Chinese components.
Chevy is winning all the JD Power awards. I have purchased washing machines and refrigerators that CR rated the best, and they turned out to be the worst!
It seems to be hit or miss on a lot of vehicles especially depending on years. Seeing mention of the Cruze in earlier comments, I know that quite a few have been in and out of a dealership where I am for a water pump lasting about 40k. I just rented a CTS with 3800 miles on it for a trip and I had issues with the Bluetooth never conecting to my phone, even though it would show connected. When making a call actually worked, it did so for 30 seconds before no longer being connected. The cruise control was also pretty rough with in continuously lunging forward and backing off the entire time. The touch censors on the climate control also we’re hit or miss when it came to working. I do enjoy my 06 Impala despite the transmission and steering issues, but even after 174k and dealing with those issues for at least the last 80-100k it’s still going strong.
Google search “Consumer Reports biased against American cars”
It’s their fault that a Toyota Corolla never having its oil changed, endures much longer than an American car…? Yea, I don’t think so… everyone in my family, although they all work for either a metal company that produces GM their steel, and aluminum, or rubber components, tells me I should have bought a Toyota or Honda. ?
So you get 150,000 hits and you pick a few that support your beliefs. Doesn’t make it factual. You need to read up to find out how Google works. LOL
I used to find it interesting how CR loved the Toyota Corolla but hated on the Chevy/GEO Prizm…despite the fact they were the same car built at the same plant (NUMMI) by the same workforce with different style and badging…
While the range of quality issues has gotten much smaller, and one vehicle can drag down an entire brand, or one problem can ding an entire vehicle line, I am still disappointed to see GM so low on the list.
Joe, I have heard that analogy before. Here is the answer I gave before. GM troubles were handled by GM. Toyota problems were handled by Toyota. PERIOD. That’s the difference. I find it so hard to believe that GM and its happy owners can’t figure out that if someone bought the exact same vehicle and that exact vehicle had the exact problems with the exact same owner even. If GM did NOTHING in one instance and FIXED the other instance that the owners would feel different, the same owner.
This has very little to do with the vehicle any more. Its the LACK OF CUSTOMER SERVICE. GM itself has ZERO customer service. The GM dealers are to handle it PERIOD. The trouble is some dealers could care less about GM. Its a product they sell like any other to make profit. If they don’t sell GM they sell brand X. Same difference to them. If CR called me, or sent me a review to fill out, I would tell them the last three GM products I drive have had troubles and GM customer service is terrible. GM has a HUGE database filled with ALL owner issues. They know who drives there vehicles. They know who is happy and who is not. The larger OWNERS SITES are getting more popular every day. People are connecting the dots more every day. One has to wonder how GM can have a TV AD in reliability, but if you read the OWNER SITES they are filled with troubles. Some owner sited will banish you for complaining about your troubles and just want to try to help people, isn’t that GM’s job to help there consumer. I just don’t get it anymore, but its SAD.
And that’s why Toyota is the #1 car maker in the world with a market cap 4 times the size of GM and better profitability.
Joe R.
That must be because the Corolla was NEVER produced at the NUMMI plant. You are FAKE NEWS.
“The first model NUMMI produced was the Chevrolet Nova (1984–1988). This was followed by the Geo Prizm (1989–1997), the Chevrolet Prizm (1998–2002) and the Hilux (1991–1995, predecessor of the Tacoma), as well as the Toyota Voltz, the Japanese right-hand drive version of the Pontiac Vibe. Both of the latter are based on the Toyota Matrix.”
The quality control at the NUMMI plant was different for GM and Toyota vehicles with the Toyota’s having far more quality checks than the ones with GM badges.
55 thumbs down for ‘how’s your engine light?’ Sorry to hear. Can we get a count on recurrent ‘Service Stabilitrak’, too?
A million views on YouTube for GM fuel pump replacement. Do we believe people look that up for fun?
To be fair, somebody has to be last in every competition, but when it’s always the usual suspects, you call that a clue.
Funny, there are sure are a lot of views for videos on how to change the Tundra’s starter, known for it’s short lifespan and 8 hour replacement procedure. Similar with the Tundra’s 60k mile water pump lifespan and failure prone Air Injection Pump. The cost to have a Toyota dealer replace the starter or air injection pump often runs between $800 and $1,000.
I always take CR numbers lightly. It’s only their bias opinionated subscribers. To me it’s not how many issues, it’s the cost. My sons 2009 BMW 335i. Pretty much sat in the garage, only 60k miles. AC evaporator core replacement, $2300, electric water pump, $900. $9500 from Carmax was a blessing. Does CR include recalls? The joke is if you want a BMW only get a lease so the warranty does not run out.
My 2012 Silverado had one little problem, an $18 part and I changed out the right wheel speed sensor. 69,000 miles and just completed a 3200 mile trip with an average of 19mpg.
What about recalls? If they are included in this CR report? It would put Honda and Audi at the bottom of the list. http://www.nydailynews.com/autos/news/takata-airbag-recall-list-cars-article-1.2602999
I wish they would include recalls. Our 2014 ATS recalls, our 2015 Canyon recalls, our 2017 Denali HD recalls. This is what I have been saying. Just because the others have troubles is meaningless. Lets just say all manufactures have 100 problems with 100 vehicles. Well if the others recall all 100 troubles and FIX them, MOST of the owners are still happy, MOST. But if GM has 100 problems with 100 vehicles, IT SEEMS TO ME, they recall 70 and let the rest of the owners down that leaves you with 30 NOT HAPPY. Sure 70 are happy, but 30 are not.
AMEN!
19 MPG?! That can’t make for a low cost of ownership. SUVs and trucks. I don’t get it. I see it all the time, bed empty, not towing, not off-road. Lot’s of mean looking women in their SUVs with a “stay out of my f___ing way” look on their face. Bigger profit margins for GM, Ford and Chrysler. Must be a machismo thing. Reminds me of the early Tim Allen monkey stuff.
My 19mpg was at highway speed, 75-80mph, yep over the speed limit sometimes 85, a 5500 lb vehicle, the pu bed was load with stuff under the teanou cover. All of it would never fit in a sedan nor SUV. One day my son called me to take home a 65” TV. Just won’t fit in a Mazda 3. Then volunteering at my church I brought Two tons of railroad ties to the dump, took several trips. In the south with st Augustine grass, it only comes from sod farms. Try puting twenty pieces in your sedan let alone an occasional pallet of sod that weights 2250 lbs. I need a new grill, can’t gat them in a sedan either. I just did a bathroom remodel, can’t get a bathtub in a sedan either. For years I towed the wife’s Murano back and forth to our second home. Can’t do that with a sedan.
CR strikes again. Same old bullcrap story.
What a load I have a 15 Traverse not a single problem with it I feel GM’s quality is excellent. If anything I feel Toyota’s quality is going down hill they feel so cheap.
Maybe these reports should start citing the suppliers used and put the pressure on them, not the companies that use their parts to assemble into a car.
Other than the facts that the manufacturers specify the design, manufacture, materials, timing, supplier and how much they pay them … you make a great point 😉
That’s why they call them Stupid Ugly Vehicles.