Consumer Reports survey finds electric vehicle reliability improving but lagging gas models

Consumer Reports subscribers, who filled out surveys during much of 2024, reported that electric vehicles had 42% more problems than gas autos on average. But that was down from 79% more in the 2023 survey. The survey released Thursday measured reliability of vehicles mainly from the 2022, 2023 and 2024 model years.

Plug-ins, which travel a short distance on battery power before a hybrid powertrain kicks in, had 70% more problems than gas vehicles, but that was less than half the difference found in last year’s survey

Gas-electric hybrids, which switch from internal combustion to electric power to get better mileage, were about as reliable as cars with combustion engines. While the technology is pretty technical, it has been refined for a quarter century, mainly by pioneer Toyota, Fisher said. “CR’s tests have shown that they are often quieter, quicker and more pleasant to drive than their gasoline-only counterparts,” he said.

Consumer Reports said its 2024 survey of subscribers representing about 300,000 vehicle owners found that Subaru was the most reliable brand for the first time, followed by perennial top finishers Lexus and Toyota. Rounding out the top five were Honda and its Acura luxury brand. It was the first time since 2020 that neither Toyota nor its Lexus luxury brand were in the top spot, Fisher said.

Subaru took first place in the survey by following the same formula that Toyota uses to get high reliability scores: It doesn’t make huge changes when updating or unveiling new vehicles, Fisher said. Instead of going with new engines or transmissions, Subaru carries parts over from the prior generation.

The highest-ranked brand from a U.S.-based automaker was General Motors’ Buick at No. 11.

The five lowest of 22 brands that were ranked were electric upstart Rivian, followed by GM’s Cadillac luxury brand, GMC, Jeep and Volkswagen, Consumer Reports said.

Electric vehicle sales leader Tesla finished 17th, down three spots from last year’s survey.

The survey found that the gas-powered Toyota RAV4 small SUV was the most reliable vehicle, followed by the Toyota Corolla compact car. The RAV4 Prime plug-in hybrid was third, followed by the RAV4 gas-electric hybrid, Fisher said.

5 comments

I wonder if past battery recalls impacted the EV scores? At least they weren’t out of pocket repairs.
- Yeah, and I wonder what the non-Tesla numbers look like too. Tesla is so much of the market in the USA, but it's known to have a lot of issues.
  
  They are 17th in the ranking. Not many are worse.
We’ve had our BMW i3 for 8 years now and the only problem was a recent windshield washer pump failure which I wasn’t sure was worth fixing. I suspect that consumer reports counted a lot of fit or finish problems which Tesla is known to have and there are a lot of Teslas in the US. I noticed that the top 5 brands are all Japanese. We bought both our daughters Hondas as graduation presents and our last car was a Toyota. I’ve been wanting to buy a Toyota EV for 8 years now. Still waiting for more choices than the ugly one with a silly name.
Consumer Reports subscribers, who filled out surveys during much of 2024, reported that electric vehicles had 42% more problems than gas autos on average. But that was down from 79% more in the 2023 survey. The survey released Thursday measured reliability of vehicles mainly from the 2022, 2023 and 2024 model years.
Plug-ins, which travel a short distance on battery power before a hybrid powertrain kicks in, had 70% more problems than gas vehicles, but that was less than half the difference found in last year’s survey
Gas-electric hybrids, which switch from internal combustion to electric power to get better mileage, were about as reliable as cars with combustion engines. While the technology is pretty technical, it has been refined for a quarter century, mainly by pioneer Toyota, Fisher said. “CR’s tests have shown that they are often quieter, quicker and more pleasant to drive than their gasoline-only counterparts,” he said.
Consumer Reports said its 2024 survey of subscribers representing about 300,000 vehicle owners found that Subaru was the most reliable brand for the first time, followed by perennial top finishers Lexus and Toyota. Rounding out the top five were Honda and its Acura luxury brand. It was the first time since 2020 that neither Toyota nor its Lexus luxury brand were in the top spot, Fisher said.
Subaru took first place in the survey by following the same formula that Toyota uses to get high reliability scores: It doesn’t make huge changes when updating or unveiling new vehicles, Fisher said. Instead of going with new engines or transmissions, Subaru carries parts over from the prior generation.
The highest-ranked brand from a U.S.-based automaker was General Motors’ Buick at No. 11.
The five lowest of 22 brands that were ranked were electric upstart Rivian, followed by GM’s Cadillac luxury brand, GMC, Jeep and Volkswagen, Consumer Reports said.
Electric vehicle sales leader Tesla finished 17th, down three spots from last year’s survey.
The survey found that the gas-powered Toyota RAV4 small SUV was the most reliable vehicle, followed by the Toyota Corolla compact car. The RAV4 Prime plug-in hybrid was third, followed by the RAV4 gas-electric hybrid, Fisher said.