Consumer Reports, a monthly magazine of the not-for-profit organization, Consumer Reports, has dealt a nasty blow to Tesla's reliability ratings by testing Elon Musk's latest Y model for consumer qualities.
Model Y deliveries first began in spring 2020, and the midsize SUV clearly falls short of the quality standards Tesla enthusiasts are used to.
In its assessment, Consumer Reports acknowledges that reliability issues are common with new models, especially with very high-tech features, but in the case of Model Y, the quality control issues were unusually simple. For example, they say owners are reporting things like body panel misalignments and paint color mismatches. One of the most terrifying claims came from a buyer who said human hair was stuck in the paint of his car.
After Model Y downgraded the overall rating of the automaker, it dropped to 25th place out of 26 ranked brands. Only Lincoln performed worse.
However, some other Tesla models did not stand out in the rankings. While the Model Y performed the worst, with the designation "much worse than average," Consumer Reports reported that the Model S sedan and Model X SUV were also "below average." Only Model 3 retained an "average" rating and recommended status.
A Consumer Reports poll predicts which new cars will cause fewer or more problems for owners, based on data collected from more than 300,000 vehicles from model year 2000 to 2020. His scorecard is of great value to consumers and industry leaders.
