Consumer Reports has spent decades tracking which new vehicles send owners back to the dealership most often, and its latest ranking of the least reliable models on sale points squarely at a wave of newly redesigned trucks, SUVs and electrified powertrains. The list, last updated in December 2025 and built around the 2026 model year, still reflects the current lineup on dealer lots, and it is topped by an unlikely name: a conventional gas-powered SUV rather than one of the electric vehicles that otherwise dominate the ranking.
How Consumer Reports Builds Its Reliability Score
The organization’s prediction draws on survey data from roughly 380,000 vehicles, gathered directly from owners across the most recent model years. Respondents report on 20 separate trouble areas, ranging from minor annoyances such as squeaky brakes or loose interior trim to major, expensive failures involving the engine, transmission, electric motor or EV battery and charging system. To qualify for a predicted score, a model needs at least two years of data from among the 2023 through early-2026 model years, which Consumer Reports then weighs by severity and combines with track-testing results, an owner-satisfaction survey and safety data to produce an overall verdict, detailed in its 10 Least Reliable Cars of 2026 report. Each model on the list receives a predicted-reliability score on a 100-point scale, and the methodology behind that scoring is explained further in the organization’s guide to car reliability, which lays out how predicted scores differ from a simple tally of complaints.
The GMC Acadia Sits At The Bottom Of The List
Despite running a conventional gasoline powertrain rather than a new electrified system, the GMC Acadia posted the lowest reliability score in the entire ranking, a 14 out of 100, well below every other model on the list. Consumer Reports lists specific reported problem areas for each vehicle on its site, and the Acadia’s placement at the very bottom, below every plug-in and electric model included, is a reminder that a familiar nameplate and an established gas engine do not automatically guarantee dependability, especially in the years immediately following a full redesign. The Rivian R1T electric pickup came in just above it at 18, followed by the Chevrolet Blazer EV at 19.
Electric And Plug-In Models Dominate The Rest Of The List
Apart from the Acadia, nearly every other vehicle on the list carries some form of electrification. The Mazda CX-90 Plug-in Hybrid scored 20, the Genesis GV60 scored 21, and the conventionally powered Mazda CX-90 scored 23, sitting just ahead of the Kia EV9 at 24. The Honda Prologue and Kia EV6 tied at 25, and the Chrysler Pacifica Hybrid posted the highest score among the group at 26, still low enough to land it on the list. That concentration mirrors a broader pattern Consumer Reports has flagged in recent years: newly launched EVs and plug-in hybrids tend to post worse reliability scores in their first several model years than long-running gasoline models from the same brands, even as automakers race to expand electrified lineups.
Why New Electrified Models Struggle More Than Established Gas Cars
A brand-new electric or plug-in hybrid model typically combines an unfamiliar powertrain, a new battery and charging system, and a heavily revised software stack all at once, giving engineers far less accumulated real-world data to catch problems before they reach buyers. Complex EV-specific components, from high-voltage battery packs to electric motors and onboard chargers, introduce failure points that simply do not exist in a gasoline drivetrain refined over many prior generations. Software-heavy infotainment and driver-assistance systems, increasingly common across both electric and gas models, add another layer of potential glitches that owners report alongside more traditional mechanical complaints. A full model redesign compounds the risk further, since new sheet metal often arrives paired with a new chassis, new electronics architecture and new supplier parts all at the same time, leaving little of the prior generation’s proven engineering intact.
What The List Means For Shoppers
Landing on the least-reliable list does not necessarily mean a model is unsafe or a bad purchase outright; it signals a statistically higher chance of visits to a service department relative to other new vehicles, based on what current owners are already experiencing. Shoppers considering any model on the list can weigh that risk against extended warranty coverage, check a vehicle’s open recalls and complaint history through the federal recalls database, and compare how a redesigned model’s first-year reliability trends against later model years once early problems are typically ironed out. Consumer Reports updates its predicted scores annually as fresh owner data comes in, so a model’s position on this list is a snapshot of current-generation performance rather than a permanent verdict on the nameplate, and several vehicles that once ranked among the least reliable in an earlier redesign cycle have climbed well clear of the list within a few subsequent model years.
This article was produced with the assistance of AI and reviewed by Morning Overview editors.
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