To Boost Product Reliability, Cut Back on the Excitement

Consumer Reports’ new automotive reliability survey may be targeted at car buyers, but it also provides hard evidence that product reliability is a choice, and not an accident, for design engineers.

The survey, which appears in the April issue of the magazine, shows a stark difference between the sturdy reliability of cars that employ tried-and-true technologies, versus those that emphasize exciting-but-unproven technologies. “The manufacturers that do better are more conservative in their approach to rolling out new technology,” Jake Fisher, director of auto testing for Consumers Union, told Design News. “They systematically introduce their technologies bit-by-bit, rather than making big across-the-board shifts.”

Jake Fisher of Consumer Reports: “The manufacturers that do better are more conservative in their approach to rolling out new technology.”
(Source: Consumer Reports)

Built on responses from owners of 740,000 vehicles, the survey reveals that drivers have fewer problems with vehicles that haven’t earned reputations for emphasizing fun and excitement. Toyota Motor Corp., for example, dominated the top end of the survey with such vehicles as the Camry and Corolla sedans, which are not known for their 0-60 mph times.

”The Corolla and Camry are very conservative in their use of technologies,” Fisher told us. “They don’t use small displacement turbos or dual-clutch transmissions or CVTs (continuously variable transmissions). In fact, the Corolla was one of the very last cars to still use a four-speed automatic transmission.”

Many of Camry’s components posted average problem rates of less than 1% throughout the model years studied in Consumer Reports' survey. As a result, the vehicle’s used-car verdict was “much better than average” in seven of those eight years.

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In contrast, manufacturers that employed multiple cutting-edge technologies -– such as Ford and Chrysler -– had higher problem rates. “The Ford Focus had a brand-new multi-speed dual-clutch transmission and it struggled,” Fisher said. “And the Ford Fusion had very little in common with its outgoing models and it struggled, too, at least in the beginning.”

Even Toyota’s luxury vehicles had few problems, Fisher said. “Lexus (Toyota’s luxury division) is not using turbos or supercharged engines,” he told us. “Predominantly, we’re seeing naturally aspirated engines and common platforms from them.”

For all manufacturers, reliability is a choice, Fisher said. They can typically grab more headlines in automotive journals with turbocharged torque and horsepower and with eight- and nine-speed transmissions. Moreover, they can appeal to a customer base that values excitement and handling over reliability. “If you want to build a car that gets a lot of attention in automotive journals, you have to have something that’s sexy and fun to drive,” Fisher said. “A lot of these cars are displayed at race tracks, where they stress performance, styling, and whiz-bang technology. Whereas, when Toyota comes up with a new generation of Camry, it can be a yawner.”

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To some degree, automakers often find that their models are confined to market niches that require cutting-edge technology. For those vehicles, it may be difficult to make a switch to higher-reliability components. Fisher cited an example of the Volkswagen Jetta a few years ago. In an attempt to boost reliability, he said, Volkswagen engineers pulled back on technological reigns, only to find that many customers preferred the cutting-edge technology of the earlier models.

”Some manufacturers have tried to emulate Toyota, but sometimes it turns out not to be a good plan for them,” Fisher said.

The bottom line is that familiarity breeds reliability, he said. “Every Camry is progression of previous Camrys,” he told us. “If you take one apart, you’ll find components that go back for generations.”

Senior technical editor Chuck Murray has been writing about technology for 32 years. He joined Design News in 1987, and has covered electronics, automation, fluid power, and autos.