Ford has come out as the least reliable car manufacturer in the U.S., according to a new study by Scrap Car Comparison that analyzed the data of more than 2 million Google searches.
When we encounter a problem with our car, many of us turn to the internet for help, and this new study got under the hood of which particular car models are causing their owners to frequently turn to Google for troubleshooting assistance.
The investigation analyzed breakdown, fault and repair related search volumes for almost 500 different car models. The data was then cross-referenced with the sales figures for each model to achieve a fair comparison. The resulting Crap Car Comparison Index reveals America’s second-largest automaker, Ford, is the least reliable, with more than 64,000 Google searches logged per year from Ford owners looking for advice around a fault in their car.
Mazda, Honda and Nissan, whose cars are all produced across factories in the U.S., Japan and Mexico, feature in the top five manufacturers you can rely least upon.
Brands such as GMC and Volkswagen fared better, sitting outside of the top 15 thanks to their comparatively low Google searches for problems vs. their high yearly sales.
In the U.S., Ford, Mazda and Nissan are the car manufacturers that are getting the most Google searches for problems relating to their cars. Specifically, the Nissan Rogue and Nissan Titan are causing owners to constantly Google what’s wrong with them, as is the Mazda CX-9.
The sporty Kia Stinger takes the unfortunate crown of being the least reliable car in the U.S., with relatively low sales figures suffering against comparatively high search volumes for breakdown related searches.
While Ford comes out as the worst car manufacturer, according to Google search data, none of its specific models actually make the top 15 least reliable car models in the U.S. The reason Ford comes out so high is because it has so many models lower down the model rankings---for example, the Ford Edge, Escape, Expedition, Explorer, Focus, Transit and EcoSport all feature in positions 20 through 50 for worst models, and their combined Google searches put Ford in the top spot as the least reliable manufacturer.
Scrap Car Comparison’s research also looked at which cars were troubling owners overseas, and found that Vauxhall is the least reliable brand in the UK, while the Kia Stinger was also found to be the least reliable model in the likes of Australia and Canada.
“As we see many of the same makes and models getting scrapped on a daily basis, we wanted to find out whether this stacked up against car reliability," said Dan Gick, managing director of Scrap Car Comparison. "The results seem to show that it does, as the Google search and sales data revealed Ford as the third least reliable brand in the UK, and most unreliable in the U.S.
"This is something that particularly stood out to me, as Fords and in particular their Focus model, have been the most scrapped cars in the UK every year since 2017. We hope the results of our Crap Car Comparison Index can help car buyers in their decision making when looking for their next car.” To see the full results of the study, including international analysis, click here.
Source: Scrap Car Comparison
