Most & Least Reliable Brands

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Product Reliability Ratings

This year's Annual Product Reliability Survey contains several big surprises. Like a popular, high-end gas range that turns out to be among the most repair-prone.

From home appliances to cars to electronics, see which products are likely to develop problems or go before their time. And of course, see which brands have a consistently good history, too.

Next: Refrigerators

REFRIGERATORS

Reliable:
GE, Kenmore and Whirlpool for both top-freezer and side-by-side models; Amana and Kenmore for bottom-freezers

Among the more repair-prone:
Sub-Zero for side-by-sides

Most repair-prone:
Maytag for top-freezer models; Sub-Zero built-ins for bottom-freezers
(Years covered: 2002 to mid-2006)

Next: Dishwashers

DISHWASHERS

Reliable:
Amana and Whirlpool

Most repair-prone:
Asko and Fisher & Paykel

(Years covered: 2001 to mid-2005)

Next: Microwaves

OVER-THE-RANGE MICROWAVES

Reliable:
Amana, Frigidaire, GE and Maytag

Most repair-prone:
Sharp

(Years covered: 2002 to mid-2006)

Next: Gas Ranges

GAS RANGES

Reliable:
GE and Hotpoint

Most repair-prone:
Amana, KitchenAid and Viking

(Years covered: 2000 to 2006)

Next: Electric Ranges

ELECTRIC RANGES

Reliable:
GE, Hotpoint and Whirlpool

Most repair-prone:
Amana, Jenn-Air, KitchenAid and Maytag

(Years covered: 2000 to mid-2006)

Next: Canister Vacuums

CANISTER VACUUMS

Reliable:
Rainbow

Most repair-prone:
Eureka, Hoover, Kenmore and Miele

(Years covered: 2002 to 2006)

Next: Upright Vacuums

UPRIGHT VACUUMS

Reliable:
Eureka and Kirby

Among the more repair-prone:
Fantom and Simplicity

Note that canister vacuums tend to be less reliable than uprights.

(Years covered: 2002 to 2006)

Next: Washers

WASHERS

Reliable:
Frigidaire, GE, Kenmore and Whirlpool for front-loaders; Frigidaire, GE, Kenmore, Roper and Whirlpool for top-loaders

Among the more repair-prone:
Amana, Fisher & Paykel and KitchenAid for top-loaders

Most repair-prone:
Maytag for front-loaders

(Years covered: 2002 to 2006)

Next: Electric Dryers

ELECTRIC DRYERS

Reliable:
No brand stood out as especially reliable.

Among the more repair-prone:
Amana and KitchenAid

For gas dryers, differences among brands were not meaningful.

Next: Laptops

LAPTOPS

Laptops have had the highest repair rates over time of the products Consumer Reports tracks.

No brand in the surveys, covering 2002 through mid-2006, stood out as especially reliable or especially repair-prone.

Next: Desktop PCs

DESKTOP COMPUTERS

Desktops are less likely to require repairs and are easier and less costly to repair when they do.

During the 2002 to mid-2006 time frame, only Apple desktops stood out as notably reliable, and no brand CR evaluated was especially repair-prone.

Next: Camcorders

CAMCORDERS

Reliable:
Panasonic and Sony

Most repair-prone:
Canon, JVC and Samsung MiniDV models

(Years covered: 2003 to 2006)

Next: Picture-Tube TVs

PICTURE-TUBE TVs

Picture-tube TVs have generally been reliable. Here is Consumer Reports' repair data for 30-32-inch models.

Reliable:
JVC, Sharp, Sanyo and Toshiba

More repair-prone:
Samsung, RCA

Next: Plasma TVs

PLASMA SETS

It's too early to know which brands are likely to be more reliable for these newer types of TV sets. But based on data for sets bought new in 2005 and 2006, here is what CR is seeing for plasma TVs.

Promising reliability:
Fujitsu, Hitachi, Panasonic, Pioneer, Sony and Toshiba

More repairs than average:
Philips and Vizio

Next: LCD TVs

LCD TVs

Promising reliability:
JVC, Magnavox, Panasonic, Philips, Samsung, Sanyo, Sharp, Sony and Toshiba

More repairs than average:
Dell

Next: Cars

CARS

Most Reliable:
Honda, Subaru, Toyota

Least Reliable:
Jaguar, Land Rover, Mercedes-Benz

Based on new-car predicted reliability scores for 2007 models.

Next: Lawn Mowers

LAWN MOWERS

Reliable:
Craftsman, Honda and Toro for push and self-propelled; Yard Machines/Yard-Man for push; and Troy-Bilt for self-propelled

Among the more repair-prone:
John Deere for self-propelled

Most repair-prone:
Lawn-Boy for push mowers

Self-propelled mowers have been more repair-prone than push.

(Years covered: 2002 to mid-2006)

Next: Cameras

DIGITAL CAMERAS

Reliable:
None stood out. (In general, digital cameras have been among the most reliable products in our surveys, regardless of brand.)

Among the more repair-prone:
Vivitar for point-and-shoots

Most repair-prone:
Olympus for SLRs

(Years covered: 2003 to 2006)

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