consumer reports

Group questions MPG claims for turbo engines

Tracy Samilton — Tue, 05 Feb 2013 17:02:37 +0000

Many of the claims for better fuel economy from new turbo-charged engines are more hype than reality, according to tests by Consumer Reports, the independent consumer advocacy group.

The agency tested a number of vehicles that offer regular four or eight cylinder engines, and compared them to the turbo-charged version. Turbo-charging is a technology that gets more power from a smaller engine with direct injection of extra spurts of air and fuel.

Lukewarm reviews from Consumer Reports for three Detroit-made cars

Tracy Samilton — Tue, 20 Nov 2012 22:42:38 +0000

Consumer Reports says it won't put three Detroit cars on its influential "recommended" list - the Dodge Dart, a compact car from Chrysler, the Lincoln MKS, Ford's refreshed luxury sedan , and the Cadillac XTS.

Consumer Reports: Dart "stalls out on its powertrains."

This is especially bad news for Chrysler, according to Mark Phelan, auto critic for the Detroit Free Press.

Ford's touch screens get thumbs-down from Consumer Reports

Tracy Samilton — Fri, 24 Aug 2012 15:42:14 +0000

Consumer Reports says it's not just picking on Ford with its latest blog, entitled "Why the MyFord Touch control system stinks." The magazine says Ford is one of the worst offenders, but it says any car touch screen that takes the driver's eyes off the road is a bad idea.

MyFord Touch controls the radio, heat or air conditioning, navigation, trip computer, and, well, just about everything except the gas, brakes and steering wheel.

Ford quality issues easy to fix, says CEO Mulally

Tracy Samilton — Thu, 27 Oct 2011 22:04:19 +0000

The CEO of Ford Motor Company says the company is well on the way to fixing quality problems in new Ford cars.

The problems resulted in a big drop in the rankings for Ford in Consumer Reports' 2011 reliability survey.

Customers are having problems with the company’s My Ford in-car communication system.

Users found the touch screens hard to activate or they had to be rebooted frequently.

Consumer Reports' David Champion said that’s a safety issue, if people are so distracted by the problems that they take their eyes off the road.

The new transmission in the Focus and Fusion has glitches, too.

CEO Alan Mulally said both problems are software related.

"So it’s relatively easy and fast, to be able to make those improvements," Mulally told Michigan Radio. "So we’ve already started to incorporate that in the products that are in the field but also in the new products coming out."

Mulally said Ford began working on the issue a year ago, right after customers started complaining.

Ford fell from 10^th to 20^th place this year in the Consumer Reports reliability survey.

Ford Motor Company falls, Chrysler rises in reliability survey

Tracy Samilton — Tue, 25 Oct 2011 21:22:32 +0000

Ford Motor Company fell from grace in a Consumer Reports survey this year.

The survey predicts reliability of new models, based on past performance of older versions of the cars.

Ford dropped from 10^th place to 20^th.

David Champion is with Consumer Reports.

He says the MyFordTouch and MyLincoln Touch in-car communications systems work poorly.

And a new transmission in the Ford Focus and Fusion doesn’t work well, especially at parking lot speeds.