16 points
*

Did I miss the part where they differentiate between minor issues such as paint problems or YouTube crashing on the middle screen, and actual breakdowns where the car doesn’t move when it should? According to the original article, they’ve included reliability issues such as drivetrain problems, irregular paint and broken trim in their ranking.

Losing in-car entertainment or comfort functions is still undesirable, but if given the choice I’d rather have a car that runs without music than a stationary car that lets me stream movies until roadside assistance arrives.
And concerning the former, the infotainment systems in most ICE cars are just as cutting-edge as those in BEVs. I would expect differences in quality/reliability between different manufacturers, but not within the same brand and model family where the only relevant difference is the engine.

(Edited for clarification.)

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9 points

A broader context given at https://cleantechnica.com/2023/12/03/adding-context-to-that-consumer-reports-electric-car-reliability-report/

Consumer Reports also grouped powertrains together when discussing reliability, which is where some issues start to appear. Apparently, EVs suffered 79% more problems than gas-powered vehicles. That will undoubtedly lead to shock headlines, but it’s also misleading, Autoblog says. Most EVs are new to the market, which goes back to the cliché mentioned earlier. There are also a lot fewer make/models availability, meaning that simply averaging all models together will result in a few bad apples skewing the results.

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6 points

I assume this is used for this article https://www.consumerreports.org/cars/car-reliability-owner-satisfaction/who-makes-the-most-reliable-cars-a7824554938/ and maybe I overlooked it but I did not see it linked.

But overall, it seems like a weird study. There is so much variation between each car I have a hard time understanding what comparing reliability by type means or what value it has.

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32 points
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17 points

Why is Consumer Reports considered a rag?

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15 points

A while ago, there was something that showed the higher failure rate of various components on EVs because of the lack of routine service that has cars have. Basically, gas cars get a service and inspection every 5-10k miles when the oil is changed and any worn bearings, bushings, etc. are found. EVs don’t have that so things go unnoticed until they fail. Could this be the same? Could the “reliability” concerns just be normal wear that isn’t getting caught since there are no routing inspections?

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6 points

It would definitely be good to see a comparison of the reliability of ICE vs electric cars in countries where there is mandatory routine inspections for both. That would eliminate wear and tear as a contributing factor.

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6 points

Mechanics generally don’t inspect vehicles that are in for routine maintenance unless the customer is paying for inspections.

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1 point

I mostly do my own work, but whenever I do take my car to the local Mazda dealer, they always provide a full inspection report as well as a video of the tech checking everything and explaining anything that they’ve found. Even when my wife takes her car in for only basic maintenance (it’s still under warranty so we take it in for oil changes), they do the same thing and don’t charge anything extra.

Same dealer network owns the local Ford dealer and I ended up taking my old Fiesta ST there for an oil change as I didn’t have the space to do it myself at the time. $45 for an oil change and tire rotation, and I got the same inspection report and video.

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1 point

This seems like an extremely rare, high level of service and I’m still not convinced this would be the difference between EVs and ICE vehicle reliability if it was the standard at every dealer and independent shop over the past 10 years.

I attribute it to Tesla being a manufacturer that doesn’t care about the manufacturing process.

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6 points

I can barely get the dealership techs to do a comprehensive check even when I do ask and am paying.

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12 points

It’s possible that’s a factor, but is doesn’t seem to explain the larger differences between plug in hybrids and regular hybrids, or the vast differences between manufacturers. I tend to agree with the authors that it has more to do with manufacturers and teething issues than the drivetrain itself.

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