Are today's cars more reliable?(Cars 2001)

For many auto buyers, reliability remains one of the most critical elements of the decision-making process.

That's why every five years, we do an in-depth trend analysis of our annual auto-reliability survey information. This analysis includes information from about two and a half million responses.

For the first time we can look back at two full decades (1980 to 2000) of auto reliability, comparing problems per 100 cars for vehicles that were then new. The results are both encouraging and intriguing.

In general, vehicles have continued to improve. Back in 1980 the average trouble rate for all new vehicles was 88 problems reported for every 100 cars. By 2000 that rate had dropped to 20 problems: an astounding 77 percent improvement. The improvement in sport-utility vehicles and pickup trucks was also pronounced, dropping from 99 problems for SUVs and pickups in 1980 to 20 in 2000. The charts below show the overall trends.

For most makes, the improvement rate flattened out between 1990 and 1995. The average trouble rate for new vehicles stayed at about 30 problems. But in the past five years the pace of progress has picked up again, with the problem rate declining to 20, an improvement of about 30 percent. What happened? We suspect that problems that came from some of the computer-controlled systems introduced in the late 1980s and early 1990s offset reliability improvements in other areas. But now, many of the kinks have been worked out of in-car computer systems.

Within those overall trends, some vehicle types, makes, and models have improved more than others. In general, Japanese-nameplate vehicles, whether they were actually manufactured in Japan or North America, continue to be the most reliable. U.S.-nameplate vehicles have, for the past 20 years, been the most problematic, and European-nameplate vehicles have been in between. Here's a closer look at some of those differences:

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