OH SNAP! Guess What Car Finished Dead Last In Consumer Reports Reliability Survey

This illustrates what I hate about Consumer Reports surveys. I'm no fan of the Fiat 500L but this leads one to believe that the car is prone to break downs and failures when, really, what customers are dealing with are design flaws in the car... They don't like the way the transmission and infotainment system works. That should be counted as something else, not a reliability issue. How many other cars are dragged down in CR ratings for similar stuff?

Agreed. This is more of a satisfaction issue vs a reliability issue.

Yes. I second this. So it's all about the infotainment system these days. I'm surprised they did not complain about the "cup Holders"!. I really think reliability should focus in on what works and what breaks down. The twin clutch is not the best tranny out their. However does the transmission break down? Do the brakes not work? Does the vehicle overheat? Are pieces falling off the interior of the vehicle? Are there excessive rattles? Does the vehicle stall? Do the electrical systems work properly? To me these are reliability issues. A tranny that should shift better but does not get any worse is not a reliability issue. C/R criteria need to be changed.

Problem is a problem and a design problem is worse if it cannot be corrected. If it wasn't serious, the owners won't be taking back to the dealer and reporting in the survey. Plus it likely be getting worse since most would have noticed during their test drive if it was normal. Electronics that glitch and malfunction is also an example of issues that may not be easily fixed but if it persists without a repair it is a problem.

The issue is not consumers reporting the problem to the survey. It's the way CR classifies the problem. Call it a customer satisfaction issue not a reliability issue. They are significantly different things.

People who believe what Consumer Reports says about cars are idiots anyway.

Fix It Again Tony! Ugly and poorly designed and too small.

The New York Times reports that Doug Betts, Fiat-Chrysler quality chief, abruptly abandoned his post this morning. The company, where Betts worked for the past seven years, occupied the very bottom of Consumer Reports magazine’s annual rankings released yesterday, with Fiat, Jeep, Ram, and Dodge taking the bottom four slots and Chrysler nabbing number 22 on the list of 28.

http://blog.caranddriver.com/fiat-chrysler-quality-chief-resigns-one-day-after-terrible-consumer-reports-rankings ...forgot to add this link...

F.I.A.T. Fix It At Tony

True then and more true today.

With today's social media ratings by consumers outlets like CR have become irrelevant and while I'm not sure of the 500L - I've had an Abarth for well over a year and 9000 miles and its been flawless - well except that my wife has stolen it from me as her day-to-day driver!

If you need a good infotainment system you should be sitting at home. Not driving car!! People who consider a cars reliability solely based on how good or bad the cars infotainment system is have simply got a screw loose somewhere. The transmission problem is another issue. However, if this is the normal characteristic of the transmission and the reliability has remained steady than it is as 22max says, a customer satisfaction issue, not a reliability issue. Therefore using the word reliability in the survey is incorrect and also misleading. So because of the dissatisfaction with the infotainment system dissatisfaction with how the transmission operates should result in a lower satisfaction quotient, not lower reliability. I've already stated in my opinion how reliability should be based so I will not repeat myself. However these 2 issue should relegate the Fiat 500 L at the bottom in terms of reliability. The car functions fine, nothing fell off, and nothing stopped working. Therefore it's reliability is acceptable. Therefore this should have been a satisfaction survey not a reliability survey.