Consumer Reports: Ford makes quality strides

Toyota got an unpleasant surprise and Ford’s recovery plan received a welcome endorsement as Consumer Reports magazine revealed its influential list of best and worst new vehicles today.

Toyota lost its coveted status as an automaker that automatically gets CR’s revered “recommended" tag for every new model, while Ford saw 93% of its vehicles score well for reliability. The Toyota brand’s ranking for reliability fell from first to fifth place.

Problems with Toyota’s best-selling Camry midsize sedan, pricey Lexus GS luxury sedan and heralded new Tundra full-size pickup raised enough concerns that Consumer Reports can no longer assume every new Toyota will be reliable, David Champion, CR director of automotive testing, told the Automotive Press Association in Detroit.

“We used to recommend all Toyotas because of excellent reliability," Champion said. “We’re not going to do that any more. We’re bringing our automatic recommendation away from Toyota." The change applies to all three of Toyota’s brands: Toyota, Lexus and Scion.

Ford, on the other hand, is approaching the kind of across-the-board reliability buyers used to associate only with Japanese brands, he said.