¹Current data are insufficient to warrant charts.

This page has been updated to include the data that became available in 2005.

A model's Reliability Percentrank is a ranking of that model's Reliability Score relative to all other Reliability Scores for the given model year and age range. The percentrank was computed using the Percentrank function of Microsoft's Excel 2002 and, as the first part of the compound word percentrank suggests, is a value between 0.00 and 1.00. If a model's Reliability Percentrank is near 0.00, it has a very low Reliability Score, and if a Percentrank is near 1.00, it has a high Reliability Score. For a more detailed explanation of Reliability Percentranks and Reliability Scores, click here to be taken to the Methodology page.

The Reliability Percentranks and Percentrank Averages for 1988 to 1997 are based on the performance of approximately 6 to 8 year old vehicles; those for 1998, on the performance of approximately 5 to 7 year old vehicles;  those for 1999, on the performance of approximately 4 to 6 year old vehicles;  those for 2000, on the performance of approximately 3 to 5 year old vehicles;  those for 2001, on the performance of approximately 2 to 4 year old vehicles;  those for 2002, on the performance of approximately 2 to 3 year old vehicles. 

Benchmarks: Site manager's conjecture is that if a person cares little about what he or she drives, he or she still likely would not want to drive anything worse, or easily noticeably worse, than a typical Big Three vehicle. This is why Big Three Reliability Percentrank Averages are used to benchmark the bottom. At the other end, site manager's conjecture is that if a person has an eye for quality, he or she likely would not want to own a vehicle that is much, if any, less than a typical Reliable Two (Toyota-Honda) vehicle. This is why Reliable Two Reliability Percentrank Averages are used to benchmark the top.

Extrapolation: The extrapolation of Volvo Reliability Percentrank averages is provided to give the visitor an idea as to the relative reliability of the Volvo line for model years 2003, 2004, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2008, 2009, 2010, 2011, and 2012. The extrapolation is a linear regression of degree one and is based on vehicular ages that range from 2-4 years to 6-8 years, as noted above. If the visitor plans to purchase a new Volvo vehicle and own it for less than 3 years, the projections may have less applicability.

Advisories:

1.   This site gives a Reliability Percentrank of .6 or below a Reliability Grade of F, per the high standards, and a Reliability Percentrank of .76 or below a Reliability Grade of F, per the exacting standards. To view the table giving the Reliability Grades - High Standards for the Volvo line, click here.

2.   Nothing on this web page should be viewed as suggesting that site manager considers a model-year with a Reliability Percentrank below .9, or a model with a 5-year or 10-year Reliability Percentrank average below .9, to be acceptable for purchase or lease.

3.   Some models appearing in the Reliability Percentranks table for the Volvo Line may not have a separate chart above. To view the table giving the Reliability Percentranks for the Volvo line, click here.

4.   Volvo was acquired by Ford Motor Company in the 1990s and is currently a division of this company. This may be a factor in Volvo's dramatic decline in reliability stature.

Some Volvo-related news articles:

November 2007: The Best and Worst 2008 Automobiles by CR's Reliability-Verdict History: Toyota Models Dominate Best and Account for All Perfect Reliability-Verdict Histories of 6 or More Years; GM Models Dominate Worst

July 2007: The 2007 Reliability-Durability Updates: For Vehicles 7-to-9 Years Old, Toyota and Honda Account for 11 of 12 Best, GM - 22 of 41 Worst: Will a Typical Toyota at 30 Years of Age Be as Troublesome as a Typical GM at 3 Years of Age?

April 2007: By Yet Another Quality Measure, Toyota and Honda Are Best and GM and DaimlerChrysler - Worst: The UCS 2007 Environmental Report

March 2007: Chevrolet Upholds a Tradition: GM's Chevrolet Line Worst by CR's 2007 Vehicles-to-Avoid List

March 2007: GM Expands Lead on CR's Used-Cars-to-Avoid List, a Tad

November 2006: NHTSA Safety Investigations: More Seat Fires for Chrysler and More Engine Compartment Fires for Ford, Plus Summary and Others

September 2006: Reliability Updates: Best and Worst Cars and Trucks Tables: A Chart Summary

August 2006: Reliability Updates: For Vehicles 4-to-6 Years Old, Toyota Accounts for 8 of 14 Best, GM - 19 of 47 Worst

August 2006: Fitch Cuts Ford Debt Deeper into Junk, Retains Negative Outlook, Puts Estimated Post-Bankruptcy Recovery at 51-70%; Will GM-Ford Race to Bankruptcy End in Dead Heat?

August 2006: For 2-to-3-Year-Old Model-Year-2003 Vehicles, Toyota Garners 8 of Top 9 and 9 of Top 14, General Motors Accounts for 18 of Bottom 46

August 2006: Moody's Cuts Ford Debt Two Notches Deeper into Junk: Which of the Big Two Will Win the Race to Bankruptcy?

June 2006: S&P Cuts Ford Debt Deeper into Junk: Which of the Big Two Will Win the Race to Bankruptcy?

June 2006: Fitch Cuts Ford Debt Deeper into Junk, but GM Retains Solid Lead in Race to Bankruptcy

June 2006: U.S. Safety Recalls by Volkswagen (1), General Motors (1), Volvo (1), and Toyota (1)

June 2006: Toyota and Honda Dominate CR's 2006 Higher-Reliability, Higher-Owner-Satisfaction Quick Picks; Big Three Score Zip

May 2006: Toyota and Honda Account for 75% of CR's Top Picks, Alternatives, and Runners-up; Subaru and Nissan Account for Balance; Big Three Score Zip

March 2006: Fitch Cuts Ford's Credit a Notch

February 2006: Into the Pits and Down and Under Charges the General; General Motors Sets Record Share of CR's Much-Worse-Than-Average

February 2006: In the U.S. in January 2006, Reliable Two Sales Soar to Set New January Sales Records; GM and Ford Dodge Plunge with Huge, Premature Fleet Sales, but GM's Market Share Still Drops a Notch; Toyota RAV4 Overtakes Honda CR-V with Dramatic Sales Surge

January 2006: Ford Cuts GM Lead in Race to Insolvency: Which Big Three Will Go Bust First?

January 2006: Ford Narrows Gap in GM-Ford Race to Bankruptcy

December 2005: Ford's Debt Cut to Junk by Fitch, but GM Retains Big Lead in Race to Bankruptcy

December 2005: By CR's Predicted Short-Term Reliability for Model Year 2006, Toyota and Honda Dominate Best, GM and Ford Dominate Worst

September 2005: 2005 Reliability Updates: Plunging into the Depths - The Five Worst Marques by Reliability Percentrank Average Drop from 1988 to 2001

May 2005: In NHTSA Car Crash Tests, Lowest Score Goes to Chevrolet Cobalt, Lowest Two Scores to Buick LaCrosse, Perfect Scores to Toyota, Mitsubishi, Subaru, and Two Volvos

April 2005: In the U.S. in March 2005, Toyota and Nissan Sales Advance, Ford and GM Sales Drop

March 2005: In the U.S. in February 2005, Toyota and Nissan Sales Advance, Ford Sales Drop, GM Sales Plummet

February 2005: In the U.S. in January 2005, Toyota and Nissan Sales Advance, Consumers Continue to Reward Toyota and Nissan Quality with Greater U. S. Auto Market Share and Again Take GM and Ford to the Shed

January 2005: In the U.S. in December 2004, Sales by the Quality Four Soar; General Motors and Ford Sales Drop

Automotive News Menu Pages

Auto Manufacturers: Toyota - Honda - Subaru - Nissan - Ford - Chrysler - General Motors - Volkswagen

Topics: Reviews - Recalls - Safety Investigations - Safety Test Results - Automotive Excellence - Green and Clean - Automotive Dishonor, Discredit, or Demerit - Lawsuits - Automotive Finances - Car and Truck Sales and Market Shares - Auto on Info

The visitor may find the following tables and charts useful as well.

Cumulative Number of Auto on Info Auto Manufacturer Awards for Motor Vehicle Quality			Cumulative Number of First Place Positions in Auto on Info's Auto Manufacturer Awards for Motor Vehicle Quality
Auto Manufacturer	Awards		Auto Manufacturer	First Place Positions
Toyota	42		Toyota	39
Honda	34		Honda	5
Mercedes-Benz	2		Mercedes-Benz	0
Nissan	1		Nissan	0
BMW	1		BMW	0
Volvo	1		Volvo	0
General Motors	0		General Motors	0
Ford	0		Ford	0
Chrysler	0		Chrysler	0
This table is current as of 14 August 2007.			This table is current as of 14 August 2007.

Shares of Consumer Reports' 2005 Quick Picks, by Auto Manufacturer and Motor Vehicle Line
Manufacturer		Share of 2005 Reliability Quick Picks	Share of 2005 Owner Satisfaction Quick Picks	Share of 2005 Fuel Economy Quick Picks	Share of 2005 Overall Quick Picks
	Vehicle Line
Toyota		.63	.47	.46	.33
	Lexus	.11	.16	0.00	.14
	Toyota	.53	.32	.46	.19
Honda		.21	.26	.38	.33
	Acura	.11	.11	.08	.05
	Honda	.11	.16	.31	.29
Subaru		.05	.11	0.00	.14
Nissan		0.00	.05	0.00	.14
	Infiniti	0.00	0.00	0.00	.05
	Nissan	0.00	.05	0.00	.10
Mazda		.05	.05	.15	.051
BMW		0.00	.05	0.00	0.00
Mitsubishi		.05	0.00	0.00	0.00
Ford, Chrysler, General Motors, and all others		0.00	0.00	0.00	0.00
1 Mazda's one entry, the Mazda3 i, may have been pulled from Consumer Reports' Overall Quick Pick List due to a "Poor" side-impact crash test rating by the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety. The Insurance Institute's rating did cause Consumer Reports to pull the Mazda3 from its recommended list.
All shares are rounded to two significant digits.
CR 2005 Quick Picks are quick pick models of model year 2005.
Note: A rebadge of a product engineered by Toyota, but sold by another auto manufacturer, is omitted from the latter's share.
Source for Consumer Reports' Good Bets: "Quick Picks," Consumer Reports, April 2005, P. 31

*Chrysler Group Cumulative Total may include Mercedes-Benz 2004 recalls; the article on the 2004 totals was unclear on this matter.