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Tuesday, October 20, 2015

20 Least Reliable New Cars

20 Least Reliable New Cars

With the average new car costing well over $30,000 and often representing years of payments, car buyers deserve vehicles that will be trouble-free for quite some time. But many owners aren’t so lucky.

We analyzed data on more than 740,000 vehicles from our 2015 reliability survey, and we saw clear trends for brands and models, as shown in our complete report and on our model pages.

Some vehicles may show a high incidence of one problem, but in other cases each flaw has a low incidence but there were many faults scattered across the whole population. To go beyond the ratings, below we bring the complaints to life, by sharing the the words most-often included in owner quotes on the 20 least-reliable new cars.

The problems noted here were nearly all fixed under warranty, but sometimes these repairs required several visits to the dealer or involved lengthy delays.

All of these problems occurred in the 12 months prior from the date of the survey. Vehicles included here had been on the road from a few months to about three years, but their design was essentially similar to 2016 models.

If a model was new or redesigned in the past year, or if we lacked sufficient data for some years, we might derive a predicted reliability score using only one year’s data. Those models are marked with an asterisk (*).

The cars are listed in order of predicted reliability scores with the most-troublesome first.

More Exclusive Car Reliability News

Visit our guide to car reliability for more information. And check out these related articles:

1. Fiat 500L*

Radio replaced. Display-screen froze. Backup camera failed. Voice commands ignored. Battery failed. Erratic shifting. Gears won’t engage. Transmission needed reprogramming. Turbo unit replaced. Engine replaced. Running lights burned out. Front tie rod broke. Tire-pressure monitor sensor malfunctioned.

See our complete Fiat 500L road test and ratings.

2. Ford Fiesta

Clutch needed adjustment or replacement. Gearbox jumps out of gear. Rough, noisy, jerky, or delayed shifts of automatic. Transmission reprogrammed or replaced. Fuel pump failure. Rattles. Loose trim.

See our complete Ford Fiesta road test and ratings.

3. Cadillac Escalade*

Unresponsive touch screen. Driveline vibration. Transmission replaced. Climate system problems. Backup camera, collision warning, and lane departure-warning malfunctions.

See our complete Cadillac Escalade road test and ratings.

4. Jeep Cherokee

Rough, jerky or erratic shifts. Transmission needed reprogramming, sometimes more than once, or replacement. Engine computer reprogrammed or replaced. Faulty navigation system. Backup camera failed. Touch-screen froze. Oil leak. Dashboard squeaks. Faulty ball joints. Driveline vibration. Loose weather stripping. Sunroof, seat, dash, or lift-gate rattles.

See our complete Jeep Cherokee road test and ratings.

5. Chevrolet Corvette

Infotainment screen froze or went blank. Premature brake wear. Defective automatic climate control. Faulty GPS. Squeaks from convertible top.

See our complete Chevrolet Corvette road test and ratings.

6. Chevrolet Suburban/GMC Yukon XL*

Sunroof leak. Engine vibration. GPS antenna defective. Loose trim. Transfer-case computer needed resetting.

See our complete Chevrolet Suburban/GMC Yukon XL road tests and ratings.

7. Ram 2500*

Diesel exhaust fluid pump or gauge malfunction. Leaks in air suspension. Faulty NOx sensor. Faulty overhead interior light. Display screen went blank.

See our complete Ram 1500 road test and ratings.

8. Chevrolet Colorado/GMC Canyon*

Infotainment screen went blank. Bad OnStar module. Rough or delayed transmission shifts. Climate system problems. Squeaks and rattles.

See our complete Chevrolet Colorado/GMC Canyon road tests and ratings.

9. Nissan Pathfinder

Passenger-side airbag warning light stays on. Vibrations or jerks from driveline. Transmission slipping. Transmission replaced. Intermittent image from rear camera. Battery drain with car off. Rear seat heaters failed. Loose trim and molding.

See our complete Nissan Pathfinder road test and ratings.

10. Cadillac ATS

Infotainment touchscreen slow to respond or froze. iPod and iPhone usability problems. Pistons or rod replaced.

See our complete Cadillac ATS road test and ratings.

11. Ford Focus

Clutch replacement. Engine knock. Rough, jerky, or delayed shifts. Transmission reprogrammed. “Sketchy” phone pairing. Display screen freeze. No audio. SYNC software revision.

See our complete Ford Focus road test and ratings.

12. Infiniti QX60

Airbag seat sensor malfunction. Defective catalytic converter. Interior squeaks. Loose window or roof rack trim. Door rattles. Transmission slips. Transmission replaced.

See our complete Infiniti QX60 road test and ratings.

13. Mercedes-Benz GL-Class

Collision-warning sensors not operable. Blind-spot sensors failed. Power steering failed. Premature brake wear. Wiper motor quit. Display screen went blank. Infotainment system worked erratically. Phone pairing sporadic. Spotty voice recognition. Rattles in door or liftgate. Transmission stuck in gear. Engine computer needed reprogram.

See our complete Mercedes-Benz GL-Class road test and ratings.

14. Dodge Challenger

Erratic shifts or stuck gears. Transmission replaced. Coolant leak. Defective alternator. Cooling-fan failure. Airbag warning light. Cruise control failure. Power seat failure. Water in trunk. Noisy rear differential replaced.

See our complete Dodge Challenger road test and ratings.

15. Chrysler 300

False alarms from security system. Alternator replaced. Automatic climate system intermittent. Cruise control intermittent. UConnect froze or shut down. Bluetooth device-pairing inoperable. Voice-command unresponsive. Remote-start malfunction. Rattles and squeaks. Erratic transmission shifts. Transmission replaced.

See our complete Chrysler 300 road test and ratings.

16. Chevrolet Tahoe/GMC Yukon*

Water leak from roof rail. Faulty collision or backup sensors. Cylinder-head replacement. Seat heaters failed. GPS antenna defective.

See our complete Chevrolet Tahoe/GMC Yukon road tests and ratings.

17. Acura TLX

Transmission hesitates, shifts abruptly or roughly; some gearboxes were reprogrammed or replaced. Voice-command not responsive. Phone-pairing difficult.

See our complete Acura TLX road test and ratings.