U.S. and European automakers may be catching up to Japan when it comes to car safety, according to the 2013 Consumer Reports Annual Auto Reliability ranking.
Audi, Volvo and GMC captured three of the top 10 spots in the survey this year, a Consumer Report press release said.
While it's rare for a European, Korean or U.S. carmaker to achieve anything higher than seventh or eighth place, Audi, which has shown steady improvement in vehicle reliability during recent years, moved up four places this year to finish fourth overall.
Japanese brands Lexus, Toyota and Acura captured the top three spots in the survey conducted by the Consumer Reports National Research Center.
Three Audis, the A6 sedan, Q7 SUV and Allroad wagon, have "much better than average" reliability. Volvo jumped 13 places to seventh. GMC emerged as the top domestic brand, finishing ninth-three places higher than last year. Moreover, every model from Audi, GMC, and Volvo, for which CR has data, earned an average or better reliability score.
Japanese automakers took seven out of the 10 top spots in the survey. Nissan sank to 22nd among the 28 brands in the rankings. Two popular models, the redesigned 2013 Honda Accord V6 and the 2013 Nissan Altima, scored too poorly in the survey for Consumer Reports to continue recommending them.
As a group, the nine Japanese brands in the survey still produce a remarkable number of reliable cars, said the press release. Of the almost 100 models, 90 percent were average or better and almost a third of them received top marks.
In-car electronics generated the most complaints of all 17 problem areas analyzed in the Consumer Reports survey.
"In many cases, the survey revealed touch-screen information and entertainment systems have been buggy, with frustrating screen freezes, touch-control lag or a reluctance to recognize a cell-phone, an MP3 device or a voice command," the press release said.
The Consumer Reports survey is believed to be the largest of its kind with findings based on subscribers' experiences with 1.1 million vehicles.
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