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Consumer Reports Defends Tesla Model 3 'Average' Reliability Prediction

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Credit: Tesla

Consumer Reports pushed back on scathing remarks from Tesla, as the EV maker gets ready to shift Model 3 production into high gear.

After Consumer Reports (CR) predicted Tesla's Model 3 would have "average reliability," select media outlets on Thursday and Friday carried bitter remarks* directed at CR from the automaker.

CR said on October 19 that "Because of the Model S’s improved rating, the all-new Tesla Model 3 EV predicted reliability rating also has improved, rising to average in CR's rankings. That's because Tesla’s less expensive Model 3 borrows much of its technology from its bigger brother."

The word “average” didn’t sit well with Tesla. In response, it had some choice comments. Here are some given to CNBC on Thursday:

Time and time again, our own data shows that Consumer Reports' automotive reporting is consistently inaccurate and misleading to consumers.

--Tesla via CNBC (10/19)

That CNBC report also quoted Tesla as saying that Consumer Reports tests and surveys "lack basic scientific integrity" and that CR's coverage "is rooted" in the "significant attention for the publication" the reports bring. The automaker also said there were "three times" since July 2016 when Consumer Reports "published inaccurate or misleading reports."

A Reuters story on Friday had fighting words too, attributed to Tesla: "It’s important to note that Consumer Reports has not yet driven a Model 3, let alone do they know anything substantial about how the Model 3 was designed and engineered."

Credit: Tesla

Consumer Reports October 20 statement:

Consumer Reports posted a statement on Friday. Here are a few excerpts:

Late yesterday, Tesla shared with select journalists what appears to have been a prepared statement of supercharged and unsupported claims about the performance and safety of their own vehicles and our 2017 Annual Reliability Survey results...

Tesla seems to misunderstand or is conflating some of what we fundamentally do our Annual Reliability Survey report and the related predictions versus our car reviews and tests...First, Tesla appears unhappy that CR expects the new-to-market Tesla Model 3 to be of average reliability, which is generally a positive projection for any first model year of a car...

Here’s how we make the prediction: CR uses survey data it receives from car owners to predict the expected reliability of new cars being introduced to the market by looking across a manufacturer’s historic results (akin to how a weather forecaster predicts it will be sunny) – separate from the hands-on road tests we use for our overall score.

For the Model 3, we looked at more than 2,000 consumer survey responses about Tesla models. In fact, the Tesla Model S is now reported as having above average reliability for the first time ever. The Tesla Model S is also currently CR’s top rated car, period. (Kudos on both, Tesla!)

--Consumer Reports, "Consumer Reports Responds to Tesla’s Complaints on Reporting, Research and Reviews"

This brouhaha is happening just as Tesla is trying to ramp up production of the Model 3, its first mass-market, high-volume EV. Consumer Reports has both praised and panned Tesla products. While the Model S has received the "top rated" car (as CR says above), the Model X has not fared well.

*I asked Tesla for comment but received no response.