The Updated 2010 Reliability Grade Point Averages and Grades for Manufacturers of Automobiles: The Complete Table and the Top 5 Automobile Manufacturers and the Bottom 5 Automobile Manufacturers
by James Bleeker

Photograph of a 2008 Toyota Corolla S on 20 August 2010

With an overall 2010 Auto Reliability Grade Point Average of 3.81 over a 10-year data history, the Corolla continues to contribute to Toyota Motor Corporation's high age-range and overall Grade Point Averages. See the table, bar graph, and list of the Top 5 below.

The Complete Table

This page provides detailed 2010 auto manufacturer reliability ratings and auto manufacturer reliability rankings in a reorderable table. It expresses the automobile manufacturer reliability ratings and automobile manufacturer reliability rankings, and makes available manufacturer reliability comparisons and reliability contrasts, using the Auto Reliability Grade Point Average, or Auto Reliability GPA. This auto reliability index is valuable as it is an easy-to-understand, but detailed, auto reliability measure, and is familiar to many having attended secondary school and nearly all who have received some post-secondary education. The page also employs Auto Reliability Grades as a reliability index. This measure of auto reliability differences, although less detailed, is valuable as it is familiar to all persons having attended primary school. The updated Auto Reliability GPA is an automobile reliability statistic that is obtained from Consumer Reports' auto reliability survey data summarized in the reliability tables of (1) Consumer Reports: New Car Buying Guide: 2010, (2) Consumer Reports: Used Car Buying Guide: 2010, and (3) the April 2010 issue of the Consumer Reports magazine. Column reordering on this page is Ajax enabled to make for a convenient and easy-to-use reordering option.

The Average GPA for each car manufacturer is the average of the Average GPAs of its models. The Average Minimum GPA for each car manufacturer is the average of the Minimum GPAs of its models. The Reliable Two, Toyota Motor Corporation and Honda Motor Company, appear first in the table, because of their rather singular stature; the remaining manufacturers are listed alphabetically.

Letter grades corresponding to Average GPAs and Average Minimum GPAs are determined thusly: A if the GPA is 3.50 to 4.00, B if the GPA is 2.50 to 3.49, C if the GPA is 1.50 to 2.49, D if the GPA is 0.50 to 1.49, and F if the GPA < 0.50.

GPAs for 4 age ranges are given so that the visitor may examine more thoroughly the age range that is of greater interest to him/her, if such there be.

To arrange any column in ascending order (smallest value on top), click the header of the column. Arranging a reliability GPA or Grade column in ascending order will place the lowest reliability values and least reliable auto manufacturers at the top (after those with empty cells) and the highest reliability values and most reliable auto manufacturers at the bottom of the table. This automobile manufacturer ranking will permit the visitor to better visualize auto manufacturer differences. The reliability ranking feature is Ajax enabled for ease of use.

To rearrange any column in descending order (largest value on top), click the header one more time. Arranging a reliability GPA or Grade column in descending order will place the highest reliability values and most reliable auto manufacturers at the top. Lists below the table give (1) the 5 most reliable auto manufacturers and (2) the 5 least reliable auto manufacturers.

The Updated 2010 Reliability Grade Point Averages for Manufacturers of Motor Vehicles with Reliability GPAs for Four 4-Year Age Ranges and an Overall Average Reliability GPA Click GPA or Grade Column Header Twice for Auto Manufacturer Reliability Ranking from Best to Worst   ID Auto Manufacturer Manufacturer GPA for 0-to-4 Year Old Vehicles Manufacturer GPA for 2-to-6 Year Old Vehicles Manufacturer GPA for 4-to-8 Year Old Vehicles Manufacturer GPA for 6-to-10 Year Old Vehicles Average Reliability GPA Grade Based on Average GPA Average Minimum GPA Grade Based on Average Minimum Average No. of Model Years of Data 44 Toyota 3.34 3.52 3.72 3.72 3.49 B 3.24 B 6.53 69 Honda 3.47 3.58 3.38 3.27 3.35 B 3.11 B 6.33 84 BMW 1.39 1.75 2.00 1.65 1.51 C 1.19 D 5.58 119 Chrysler 0.99 1.01 1.13 1.29 1.08 D 0.76 D 5.48 135 Daimler 1.60 1.44 1.94 2.39 1.66 C 1.46 D 5.00 187 Ford 2.21 2.10 1.93 2.01 2.09 C 1.80 C 5.76 268 General Motors 1.25 1.26 1.44 1.35 1.35 D 0.98 D 5.31 282 Hyundai 2.55 2.14 2.19 1.63 2.07 C 1.78 C 4.92 285 Isuzu     1.00 0.67 0.83 D 0.67 D 3.00 292 Jaguar 0.00 1.00 1.50 1.75 1.42 D 1.33 D 2.40 301 Kia 2.39 1.96 1.13 1.00 1.94 C 1.52 C 4.50 306 Land Rover 0.33 0.25 0.00 0.00 0.13 F 0.00 F 1.67 320 Mazda 2.47 2.30 2.48 2.68 2.30 C 1.97 C 5.67 328 Mitsubishi 3.00 2.88 2.67 2.25 2.60 B 2.33 C 3.83 355 Nissan 2.43 2.40 2.30 2.61 2.51 B 2.28 C 5.58 361 Porsche 2.58 2.38 1.67 2.38 2.39 C 2.13 C 5.75 371 Subaru 2.92 2.89 2.46 2.10 2.61 B 2.05 C 7.13 376 Suzuki 2.17 2.00   2.00 2.17 C 2.00 C 2.00 396 Volkswagen 1.85 1.28 0.80 1.06 1.46 D 0.96 D 4.88

The following bar graph depicts the 2010 Auto Reliability GPAs of the above automobile manufacturers.

There are several important points to be noted from the above bar graph. The first is that the 2010 Auto Reliability GPAs of Toyota Motor Corporation and Honda Motor Company are much higher than the 2010 Auto Reliability GPA of any other manufacturer. The second is that the 2010 Auto Reliability GPA of Ford Motor Company and Hyundai Motor Company are indistinguishably close. The third is that the 2010 Auto Reliability GPA of the Ford Motor Company is much higher than those of its Detroit brethren - General Motors Corporation and Chrysler LLC.

The 2010 Top 5 Automobile Manufacturers

Next, we list the 5 most reliable automobile manufacturers. The 2010 Top Five auto manufacturers are:

Toyota Motor Corporation, with an overall 2010 Auto Reliability GPA of 3.49,
Honda Motor Company, with an overall 2010 Auto Reliability GPA of 3.35,
Fuji Heavy Industries Ltd. (Subaru), with an overall 2010 Auto Reliability GPA of 2.61,
Mitsubishi Motors Corporation, with an overall 2010 Auto Reliability GPA of 2.60,
Nissan Motor Company, with an overall 2010 Auto Reliability GPA of 2.51.

Note that Fuji Heavy Industries, Ltd. is a distant third, and that Fuji, Mitsubishi Motors Corporation, and Nissan Motor Company all have similar 2010 Auto Reliability GPAs.

The 2010 Bottom 5 Automobile Manufacturers

Next, we list the 5 least reliable automobile manufacturers. The 2010 Bottom Five auto manufacturers are:

Land Rover, with an overall 2010 Auto Reliability GPA of 0.13,
Isuzu Motors Ltd., with an overall 2010 Auto Reliability GPA of 0.83,
Chrysler LLC, with an overall 2010 Auto Reliability GPA of 1.08,
General Motors Corporation, with an overall 2010 Auto Reliability GPA of 1.35,
Jaguar, with an overall 2010 Auto Reliability GPA of 1.42.

Note that both of Ford Motor Company's Detroit brethren, General Motors Corporation and Chrysler LLC, remain in the Bottom 5.

The Reliability GPAs of both General Motors and Chrysler suggest that one or two additional bankruptcy reorganizations may be in the offing for one or both. However, this largely depends on the rate of information dissemination and the speed with which people act on the information gathered. More likely than not, GM and Chrysler will be able to limit market share loss to one percentage point or less per year. At this rate, both should be able to comfortably downsize without causing economic disturbance in the U.S. or abroad.

The method of computation of the GPAs is probably familiar to nearly every college, technical school, and high school student. A Grade Point of 4.00 (that is, an A) is given to a Consumer Reports "Much Better Than Average" rating, a GP of 3.00 (that is, a B) is given to a CR "Better Than Average" rating, a GP of 2.00 (that is, a C) to an "Average" rating, a GP of 1.00 (that is, a D) to a "Worse Than Average" rating, and a GP of 0.00 (that is, an F) to a "Much Worse Than Average" rating. A Grade Point Average (GPA) is an average of the Grade Points and is computed using Microsoft's Average(a:b,[c:d],...) function.

The table is an immediate import from Microsoft's Access and a more distant import from Microsoft's Excel. The integration of the Access database into Microsoft's Web Expression software makes the reordering of the columns a rather simple task. For Ajax's partial post back, the ScriptManager and UpdatePanel controls were inserted by dragging; <ContentTemplate> was manually inserted into the code immediately after the ScriptManager and Update controls.

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