Reliability histories

How are cars holding up? The reliability history charts, included in each model's profile, give you the most comprehensive reliability information available to consumers. (To find our Ratings & reliability information go to our main Autos page and select a vehicle by make and model). These charts are based on 1.1 million responses to our 2013 Annual Auto Survey conducted by the Consumer Reports National Research Center. Consumer Reports subscribers reported on any serious problems they had with their vehicles during the past 12 months that they considered serious because of cost, failure, safety, or downtime, in any of the trouble spots included in the table below.

The scores in the charts are based on the percentage of respondents who reported problems in each of the 17 trouble spots. Because high-mileage cars tend to encounter more problems than low-mileage cars, problem rates are standardized to minimize differences due to mileage. The 2013 models were generally less than six months old at the time of the survey, with an average of about 3,000 miles.

To check on the reliability history of a particular year's model, start with the Used Car Verdict. This score shows whether the model had more or fewer problems overall than the average model of that year, calculated from the total number of problems reported by subscribers in all trouble spots. Because problems with the engine major, cooling system, transmission major, and drive system can be serious and expensive to repair, our calculations give extra weight to problems in those areas.

To see how the model that's currently on sale is likely to hold up, look at the New Car Prediction at the bottom of each chart. For this rating, we averaged a model's Used Car Verdict for the newest three years, provided the vehicle did not change significantly in that time and hasn't been redesigned for 2014. We have found that several model years' data are a better predictor than the single most recent model year. One or two years' data may be used if the model was redesigned in 2013 or 2012, or if there were insufficient data for more years. Sometimes we include a prediction for a model that is new or has been redesigned, provided its reliability history or the manufacturer's track record has been consistently above average.

To see a model's individual strengths and weaknesses, look at the individual scores for each of the 17 Trouble Spots. The "Average Problem Rates" chart below shows the average problem rates for all models in the survey in each trouble spot. Scores are based on the percentage of survey respondents who reported problems for that trouble spot, compared with the average model of that year.

Models that score a

are not necessarily unreliable, but have a higher rate of problems than the average model. Similarly, models that score

are not necessarily problem-free, but had relatively few problems compared with other models.

Because problem rates in some trouble spots are very low, we do not assign a