STS Corvette Forum

In Consumer Reports' just-released 2009 Annual Car Reliability Survey, Ford was the only domestic automaker with ratings on par with those of other global automakers. Ninety percent of Ford, Mercury and Lincoln products earned average or better reliability scores, besting even longtime reliability leaders like the Honda Accord and Toyota Camry.

Graydon Reitz, Ford's director of quality, says it's no accident Ford has ascended the ranks. The Dearborn, Mich.-based company set out on an intensive quality-improvement process four years ago, and the plan is simply paying off today, he says.

"We are looking to leapfrog totally Honda and Toyota and be recognized as the pre-eminent quality leader fundamentally, with no competition from Honda and Toyota," Reitz says. "And we have plans in place that will achieve that in very short order."

Unfortunately, Ford is the only one of the Big Three that can make such a claim. Just 20 of 48 models from General Motors earned average scores (the Chevrolet Malibu V6 was the only one rated better-than-average), and more than one-third of Chrysler products earned worse-than-average ratings. Consumer Reports recommended just one Chrysler vehicle--the Dodge Ram 1500 pickup--which is one more from Chrysler than was recommended last year.

To be fair, Lincoln's MKS and Ford's F-250 have their problems--but Ford's sustained improvement and the breadth of its quality distinguish it from its Detroit-based counterparts. It all comes down to long-term planning vs. short-term financial gain, says Mike Quincy, an autos specialist at Consumer Reports who also maintains the CR blog.

"Detroit has always been obsessed with the short run," Quincy says. "They're like any Fortune 500 company [that says], 'We have to return shareholder value, we have to increase the stock price.' Well, there's a really big difference between increasing the stock price and making a really good quality car. Chrysler and General Motors haven't been able to wrap their arms around this."