Despite once being considered the king of all electric vehicles, Tesla has continued to take substantial hits to its credibility over the last few years. Its placement at the very bottom of a newly released used-car reliability leaderboard appears to confirm those credibility concerns.
What's happening?
In early December, Consumer Reports released a leaderboard of the reliability rankings of 26 car brands. The assessment focused on more than 140,000 vehicles from the 2016 to 2021 model years. The publication sought the input from members who owned those vehicles, particularly information on key problem areas such as brakes, interior trims, transmissions, EV battery life, and EV charging.
After calculating owner-reported issues, Lexus and Toyota landed at the top of the list, earning high praise from drivers for their overall reliability. The car makers earned respective reliability scores of 77 and 73. On the opposite end of the spectrum, Tesla ranked dead last. The EV giant managed a score of just 31.
Why is Tesla's low reliability score important?
Consumer Reports included ratings from Tesla vehicles such as the Model 3, Model S, Model X, and Model Y. Despite routinely topping best-selling EV lists between 2016 and 2021, the automaker appears to have run into a serious issue when it comes to long-term reliability.
"The overall reliability (verdict) ratings from those six model years were averaged to create the used-brand reliability score. These ratings are based on owner-reported problems. We required at least five years of data for each brand," Consumer Reports explained.
According to Steven Elek, CR's program leader of auto data analytics, there may be a big reason for Tesla's shortcomings.
"Brands like Lexus and Toyota have a history of conservative redesigns, incrementally improving their entire product line rather than introducing many all-new systems," Elek said. "Our data consistently shows over time that cars from those brands are reliable when new, and they continue to be reliable as they age."
What's being done about the reliability of Tesla?
Despite the less-than-stellar ratings of its used car offerings, Tesla earned a top 10 placement in Consumer Reports' new car reliability leaderboard. While Tesla still remains well behind Toyota in terms of owner-based reliability, the publication pointed out the automaker's progress in building more dependable vehicles in previous years.
"This year, Tesla made the biggest improvement in our brand reliability rankings, moving up eight spots to rank as the ninth most reliable automaker," wrote Consumer Reports. "This was partly due to the performance of the Model 3, the most reliable electric car in our survey, and the Model Y, which is the most reliable electric SUV and the most reliable electric vehicle overall in this year's survey."
Although Tesla has made great strides in improving its overall vehicle reliability, the company has continued to report decreased car sales in many key automotive markets across the globe. With competitors offering comparable electric vehicles at lower prices and a number of controversies surrounding CEO Elon Musk, the company will likely look to turn the tide in 2026.
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