Lexus, Toyota top reliability survey

Associated Press

DETROIT

Japan’s lock on Consumer Reports’ vehicle reliability rankings is starting to ease.

Three Japanese brands — Lexus, Toyota and Acura — took the top spots in this year’s survey, and seven of the top 10 brands are Japanese.

But three non-Japanese brands — Audi, Volvo and GMC — cracked the top 10. And the magazine announced Monday it’s not recommending that consumers buy 2014 models of the Honda Accord V6 and Nissan Altima sedans, two of Japan’s top sellers, because of poor reliability scores. Two other Japanese mainstays, the Toyota Camry and Toyota RAV4, won’t be recommended because they flunked a frontal-crash test from the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety.

That’s a blow that could impact sales. Consumer Reports’ recommendations frequently are cited among the top reasons people buy particular cars and trucks.

Yonkers, N.Y.-based Consumer Reports predicts the reliability of 2014 model year cars and trucks based on a survey of subscribers who own vehicles from current or prior model years. This year, the survey questioned the owners of 1.1 million vehicles.

Problems with infotainment systems, from frozen touch screens to poorly performing voice-operated navigation systems, were frequent complaints. Jake Fisher, Consumer Reports’ automotive testing director, said electronic problems may even be underreported, since some drivers find the systems so confusing they don’t use them. German cars tended to have the best infotainment systems.