Two years ago, Ford was included in the Top 10 of Consumer Reports’ (CR) annual reliability survey, with more than 90 percent of its range rated average or better.

In the 2012 survey, however, you’ll have to look a long way down to find the Blue Oval: it occupies the next-to-last place as it finished 27th out of 28 brands rated, and its Lincoln luxury division is just one place ahead.

“Ford’s bumpy road can be seen in the numbers. Sixty percent of Ford-branded models and half of Lincolns were below average in predicted reliability and none placed above average,” said Jake Fisher, director of automotive testing for Consumer Reports.

The automaker’s downfall can be attributed to a raft of new or redesigned models, such as the Fiesta, Focus and Explorer, which were less reliable than expected, concerns about the dual-clutch PowerShift transmission and the MyFord/Lincoln Touch infotainment system that has caused more than a few headaches.

Moreover, the Ford Escape and Fusion and the Lincoln MKZ, which up until now, were traditionally rated as reliable by CR, were not included in the 2012 survey as they were all redesigned and, thus, there was insufficient data.

The publication uses reports for the most-recent three years of each model from its subscribers’ experience with 1.2 million vehicles to predict their future reliability.

Ford spokesman Mark Schirmer agreed with the survey’s findings and conceded that the company must improve its models’ reliability: “We know we have areas to address and we have been working for them and have been making progress”, he said. “Our internal data show that we are improving in these areas and we expect that will be reflected in next year’s Consumer Reports survey”.

On the opposite end of the spectrum, Toyota is the undisputed winner of the survey as its Scion, Toyota and Lexus brands occupy the first three places.

In fact, the top is conquered by the Japanese as Mazda, Subaru, Honda and Acura follow Lexus in CR’s rankings. All models from the top seven brands were ranked average or better. Additionally, of the 90 Japanese models included in the survey, 86 ranked above average!

The top European brand this year was Audi in eighth place with six out of its seven models rated average or better. It’s an impressive result since, a year earlier, the VW Group luxury brand placed 26th. Infiniti and Kia round up this year’s Top 10, while the best U.S. brand was Cadillac in 11th place.

GM in general (pun intended…) did not do badly, with all of its brands performing better than last year: GMC came in 13th, Chevrolet 15th and Buick 21st. Even the Chevrolet Cruze, which in its first year failed to impress, achieved an average rating.

Things weren’t so peachy at Chrysler, mostly due to some of its redesigned models that have entered the survey, like the Dodge Charger that was well-below-than-average.

Interestingly, the 300 V6 is the Chrysler brand’s most reliable model and the 300 V8 its most unreliable… Likewise, the Grand Cherokee V6 scores average, which is much better than the V8-engined version. This is not only because of the different powertrains but also because the V8 models have more extra features that can (and, as the survey shows, do) go wrong.

Last, but not least, while all of the German luxury brands improved compared to 2011, BMW had all but two of its 12 models rated average or better, but won’t be too pleased to hear that the 7-Series and the six-cylinder turbocharged X3 were well-below-average. Mercedes-Benz did well, too, but the revamped M-Class was below average.

You can watch a video of Consumer Reports 2012 survey right after the jump.

By Andrew Tsaousis

Thanks to “Wild Frisco” for the tip!

VIDEO