Elon Musk’s Tesla has cratered in Consumer Reports’ newest auto brand ranking due to poorly received design changes and reliability issues. Ford has also taken the top-recommended electric vehicle spot away from Tesla with the Mustang Mach-E.
Bloomberg reports that Elon Musk’s Tesla has ranked near the bottom of Consumer Reports‘ newest annual auto brand rankings due to poorly received design changes and reliability issues. The automaker ranked number 23 out of 32 brands, dropping seven spots lower than the previous year.
Tesla’s Model 3 was also beaten as the “top pick” in the electric vehicle category for 2021. Ford’s Mustang Mach-E was the highest recommended electric vehicle for 2022. U.S. manufacturers in general ranked poorly on the list, with none placing in the top 10.
General Motor’s Buick was ranked as the top domestic brand. GMC and Stellantis NV’s Jeep took the last spot while Subaru ranked the highest for 2021, with Mazda ranking second. Japanese automakers took the top five spots for 2021.
Tesla has faced a number of issues in recent years, with multiple build quality and safety issues coming to light even as the company’s market value hit approximately $1 trillion.
In December 2021, Tesla recalled more than 475,000 of its vehicles in the U.S. — approximately half of the vehicles it has sold in the country — to address a number of safety issues, one of which is potential front trunk latch failure which would result in the hood of the car flying up while driving and obstructing the driver’s view through the windshield.
The NHTSA began an investigation into Tesla’s driver-assist system, called Autopilot, in August following repeated collisions with police cars and fire trucks. In the weeks following the investigation, Tesla sent an update to its vehicle that aimed to improve the Autopilot system’s handling of crash scenes. In October, the NHTSA asked Tesla to justify the software change without filing a recall. This month, the regulator opened a fresh investigation of Tesla over “phantom breaking”
Tesla recently replaced the steering wheel in its Model S sedan for a yoke-style design that was poorly received by many drivers. Jake Fisher, senior director of automotive testing at Consumer Reports, called the new design a “chore” that “just does not work very well.”
Read more at Bloomberg here.
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