Toyota Again Tops Consumer Reports Annual Auto Reliability Survey

Key Points

• Toyota edges past 2025 winner Subaru to take the top spot in Consumer Reports’ Annual Auto Reliability Survey; Subaru and Lexus finish second and third, respectively
• Asian brands continue to dominate the top 10, while Tesla’s ranking improved significantly, up from 17th place in 2025 to ninth in 2026.
• Hybrids continue to score well in reliability, while plug-in hybrids and electric vehicles continue to experience growing pains.

Nonprofit research, testing and advocacy organization Consumer Reports has released the results of its Annual Auto Reliability Survey, and Toyota has taken back the crown of most dependable brand. The results combine road tests with reliability and owner satisfaction data from surveys of its members to produce the rankings. The findings were announced today at an online news conference hosted by the Detroit-based Automotive Press Association.

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CR members responded to the organization’s survey, submitting data on about 380,000 vehicles. Survey questions covered up to 20 potential trouble areas, ranging from minor issues like broken or loose interior trim to failures of major mechanical components like engines, electric motors and transmissions. Trouble areas are weighted according to severity and used to generate a reliability score of 1 to 100. CR gathered data on vehicles from model-years 2000-25 and a few newly introduced 2026 models, and notes that it approximates reliability info on new models based on several factors.

Most Reliable Car Brands

• Takeaway: The brands populating the top 10 list of most reliable brands in the CR survey didn’t change dramatically from 2025; Nissan and Tesla made the list, while Audi and Mazda dropped out of the top 10.

Consumer Reports’ reliability rankings for the brands that made the cut are as follows:

1. Toyota: 66
2. Subaru: 63
3. Lexus: 60
4. Honda: 59
5. BMW: 58
6. Nissan: 57
7. Acura: 54
8. Buick: 51
9. Tesla: 50
10. Kia: 49
11. Ford: 48
12. Hyundai: 48
13. Audi: 44
14. Mazda: 43
15. Volvo: 42
16. Volkswagen: 42
17. Chevrolet: 42
18. Cadillac: 41
19. Mercedes-Benz: 41
20. Lincoln: 40
21. Genesis: 33
22. Chrysler: 31
23. GMC: 31
24. Jeep: 28
25. Ram: 26
26. Rivian: 24

Improved reliability scores for its Camry, Tacoma and Tundra models helped Toyota edge past the top-ranked 2025 brand, Subaru, to claim the top spot. Subaru slipped to second, and Lexus, Toyota’s luxury division and another perennial front-runner, landed in third. Notably, Subaru also tops CR’s overall brand rankings for the second year in a row, with those scores incorporating owner satisfaction, maintenance and repair costs, as well as safety data from the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety and National Highway Traffic Safety Administration.

Asian brands continue to dominate CR’s reliability rankings, with Honda, Nissan and Acura and Kia in fourth, sixth, seventh and 10th place. BMW and Tesla fill out the rest of the top 10 in fifth and ninth, respectively. Nissan climbed from the 12th spot last year, while Tesla jumped up from 17th in 2025 thanks to improved reliability performance across its line save for the below-average score of the Cybertruck. BMW climbed three spots from last year and is once again ranked the most reliable European brand.

In contrast, Audi and Mazda dropped out of the top 10 to Nos. 13 and 14, respectively; CR data indicates that Audi’s Q4 e-Tron EV has declining reliability, and both the conventional and PHEV versions of the Mazda CX-70 and CX-90 SUVs scored below average or well below average.

Not every brand appears in the organization’s rankings, as CR did not have sufficient data to rank Alfa Romeo, Dodge, Fiat, Infiniti, Jaguar, Land Rover, Lucid, Maserati, Mini, Mitsubishi, Polestar or Porsche. (The organization requires data of a sufficient sample size on at least two models to rank a brand.)

Powertrain Types

• Takeaway: CR survey results indicate that hybrids average about 15% fewer problems than conventional internal combustion engine vehicles, while PHEVs and EVs average about 80% more problems than ICE cars.

Among electrified powertrains, hybrids performed well in surveys, with 15% fewer problems than conventional internal combustion engine cars. However, CR noted that doesn’t mean that the hybrid counterpart of a regular gas-engine nameplate is always more reliable; of the 30 or so hybrids for which sufficient data was available, only the Hyundai Sonata Hybrid, Lincoln Nautilus hybrid and Mazda CX-50 Hybrid have below-average predicted reliability scores.

On the other hand, the survey results indicate EVs and PHEVs continue to experience growing pains, with about 80% more problems on average than ICE cars. Of the 10 least reliable cars in the survey, seven were EVs or PHEVs, with reported problems related to EV batteries (sometimes necessitating replacement), charging, drive systems, build quality and climate systems.

“With so many newly introduced EVs and PHEVs along with the still-relative newness of the technology, these growing pains were inevitable,” said Jake Fisher, senior director of auto testing for Consumer Reports. “However, we are seeing evidence in our survey that some EVs are improving as they age, and there are some reliable models available.”

Models from Ford, Hyundai, Lexus, Subaru, Tesla and Toyota are among the dozen-plus EVs with an average or better score for predicated reliability. The Tesla Model Y was ranked the most reliable EV, while the Rivian R1T was the least reliable.

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