The Early 2011 Reliability Grade Point Averages and Grades for Auto Makers
by James Bleeker

Photograph of a 2007 Honda Fit on 15 August 2010

The Honda Fit has an early  2011 Auto Reliability GPA of a perfect 4.00 over its 4-year data history and has helped Honda Motor Company tie for first place among all automobile manufacturers in the Early 2011 Auto Reliability Grade Point Averages. See the table below.

The following table provides the reliability Grade Point Averages (GPAs) for each of the automobile manufacturers with significant sales in North America. Each manufacturer's GPA is an average, unweighted by sales, of those of its motor vehicle products that appear in the tables of the Consumer Union's Consumer Reports: New Car Buying Guide: 2011 and the April 2011 issue of the Consumer Reports magazine. The Average GPA for each car company is the average of the Average GPAs of its products. The Average Minimum GPA for each 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 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 one that is of greater interest to him/her, if such there be.

The Early 2011 Reliability Grade Point Averages for Manufacturers of Motor Vehicles for Four 4-Year Age Ranges   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 GPA Grade Based on Average Average Minimum GPA Grade Based on Average Minimum Average Number of Model Years of Data 42 Toyota 3.11 3.53 3.66 3.75 3.46 B 3.11 B 6.47 64 Honda 3.31 3.48 3.53 3.36 3.46 B 3.18 B 7.00 79 BMW 1.28 1.59 1.69 1.63 1.23 D 0.91 D 5.50 109 Chrysler 1.04 1.01 1.15 1.00 1.08 D 0.80 D 5.42 124 Daimler 1.39 1.48 1.84 2.25 1.34 D 1.01 D 4.33 169 Ford 2.32 2.21 2.21 2.01 2.24 C 1.95 C 5.35 225 General Motors 1.48 1.22 1.35 1.75 1.39 D 1.08 D 5.74 238 Hyundai 2.54 2.50 2.36 1.92 2.44 C 2.18 C 5.18 243 Jaguar 1.00 2.00 2.00 2.00 1.33 D 1.33 D 2.00 254 Kia 2.41 1.97 1.35 1.17 2.10 C 1.81 C 3.78 258 Land Rover 2.00 1.50 1.00   1.50 C 1.50 C 1.50 270 Mazda 2.36 2.10 2.44 2.25 2.15 C 1.70 C 5.80 277 Mitsubishi 2.83 2.83 2.25 2.15 2.51 B 2.15 C 2.80 302 Nissan 2.28 2.25 2.19 2.14 2.24 C 1.88 C 6.05 308 Porsche 2.17 2.58 2.00 1.89 2.23 C 1.75 C 4.50 316 Subaru 2.85 2.92 2.75 2.18 2.69 B 2.13 C 8.33 319 Suzuki 2.67 2.50     2.58 B 2.50 B 3.00 342 Volkswagen 1.62 1.38 0.89 1.00 1.29 D 0.94 D 3.40

Notice that (1) Toyota and Honda products dominate the upper end of the reliability spectrum in the outer years, as well as for younger vehicles, (2) Toyota and Honda tied for the top spot in 2011, and (3) Hyundai has leaped past Chrysler, Ford, and General Motors.

The following bar chart provides a graphic depiction of the early overall 2011 Auto Manufacturer Reliability GPAs.

A PDF version of this page will be made available for downloading and/or printing, if there are several requests for such.

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.

AutoOnInfo.net: The auto-quality website with the Open Directory Cool Site Award.