Carmakers Find Fuel-Economy Hardware Causes Quality Issues
- Transmissions cited by Consumer Reports annual survey
- Model S no longer recommended because of poor reliability
A Model S P85D right and a Model S 85 on display at the Tesla Motors Inc. showroom in San Jose, CA, on Aug. 20, 2015.
Photographer: Michael Short/BloombergThis article is for subscribers only.
As automakers race to meet tougher government fuel-economy standards that take effect in the next decade, they are finding trouble with some of the hardware that will get them there, according to a Consumer Reports’ survey.
Newly developed transmissions were one of the two top problem areas affecting ratings, Consumer Reports said in its Annual Auto Reliability Survey, released Tuesday. The other was in-dashboard infotainment systems. The Yonkers, New York-based publication surveys consumers to create rankings based on reported defects.