Press the "heart" symbol?

 

What are you talking about? The most confusing post I've seen in while. What upstart? Are you a Tesla fanboy that can't see them in last place?

 

Not sure why the entire diatribe was needed. Yes Tesla has gotten rave crash test reviews.

Getting back to the original topic which was manufacturing defects and defects upon car receipt. Tesla is notorious for manufacturing and fit and finish defects. It has been that way for years and their customers in general are OK with that. Anecdotally the people I know who gave up their Teslas always mentioned quality as one of the issues.

 

Like any ownership survey, lots to be said about buyers expectations and tolerances as well. IIRC, Scion was rated worse than Toyota despite all coming out of priced Japanese production facilities. Was linked more that many Scion owners were first time new car buyers that had extraordinarily high expectations of their first new car and less acceptance of random problems or usage issues even though their partsbin was nearly 100% shared with Toyota.

And as others noted as well, existing (long model runs) tend to perform better than launches.

 

Well, fit and finish during assembly has (something) to do with reliability later on as the miles increase. The better assembly goes the better the vehicle will be.

 

OP points to Tesla but doesn't choose to capture the part of the graph that indicates why both Tesla and Polestar have the ^ sign next to them. So I'll tell you. "Brand is not rank eligible because it doesn't meet study award criteria." The way data is collected on both of these brands is not consistent with the way it's collected on all other ranked brands.

Here's a quote from the article about the rise in problems per 100 cars (not specific to any brand, just the study in general).

"The continuing decline in quality can be attributed to multiple factors such as greater usage and penetration of technology; continued integration of known problematic audio systems into other new models; poor sounding horns; cupholders that don’t serve their purpose.." It also says "door handles are increasingly problematic."

Horns, cup holders, door handles, and audio systems. Consider me completely disinterested in a study like this.

 

Not when fit and finish are on things specifically pointed out by JD Power like horns, cup holder design, and door handles. Don't confuse true "reliability" (what are the odds my car leaves me stranded) with anything contained in this or any similar study.

 

In general, those abrupt changes can be due to a change in the elements that are mesured. Some builders can target to be better for those tests. We had the case, long in the past, with the TCS reliability rankings. Suddenly, the ranking changed and good, renowned reliable vehicules, where lower placed, and german brands appeared in the top 10. It was simply due to the fact that the TCS stopped to do self study and reported the ADAC rankings. But, in the ADAC ranking, brands having a tow contract with the ADAC are not included as "not functionnal". This was the loophole, that explained this explosion of reliability for german carmakers.

I'm pretty sure that Dodge and friends, simply know exactly how to do it right for this ranking.

Yes, in the broad meaning of things. But the more reliable cars I ever witnessed in my existence, where not perfect. Those where old Mitsubishi Lancers, old Steyr trucks and really old Toyota Land Cruiser or Corollas. The assembly of them was okay... it was definitely not perfect. But what was important was bullet proof.

 

...and in the case the RX ultrasuede dash garnish.

Just noticed the thread got moved to Car Chat.

 

The 1st 90 days also includes a learning curve. For example, Lexus owners get a new Lexus and the infotainment has been updated. If they have not been made familiar with the changes, it would be problematic-this goes for other brands as well. I prefer to look at the 3 year rating, this shows how well the vehicles have actually held up.

 

In general I agree with you, but Tesla door handles are so notoriously unreliable that there are service technicians that do absolutely nothing but work on door handles. That's not the type of thing I've ever heard of from any other brand. There's not a tech at your local Ford dealer who just replaces trans coolers one after the other, day in and day out.

 

Interesting, didn't know that. I assume that's on the S and X..? The Y and 3 have a totally different design that isn't motorized at all.

More manufacturers seem to be using that type of design (G90 for example) found on the S and X. The study doesn't elaborate on door handle issues, and it's certainly not pointing to a particular brand as being the culprit for the increase in cases.

 

You got a source on this?

 

Toyota is valued as a car company, trades at a PE ratio of about 11. Toyota and other traditional car companies are valued on how much profit they make last quarter and what they might make next quarter so a little more boring. Tesla is valued as a technology company and trades at a PE ratio of near 80. That high ratio means the value is based on the hopes and dreams of future profit years from now. They are making money now, but they still have a lot to prove to earn that valuation. There are many technology companies that are valued in the billions but have never made a single dollar of profit. Time is still on Tesla's side, for now. Toyota was asleep for so long they are still rubbing the gunk out of their eyes. We'll see...

 

Tesla 28th out of 32 in dependability by J D Power. Consumer Reports list the ten least reliable vehicles and the Model Y is one. Consumer Reports has them 27th out of 28 in reliability.Their horrible quality of paint and uneven door and fender gaps is well known. All facts now IMO the most boring exteriors. The only thing worse is their interiors.