(Bloomberg) -- Toyota Motor Corp.’s Lexus and Toyota brandsheld their lead atop Consumer Reports’ annual reliability rankings,while General Motors Co.’s 117-year-old line became the first fromthe U.S. to win one of the list’s top three places.

The survey, a buying bible to car shoppers that has beendominated by Japanese automakers, has more internationalrepresentation this year. As other automakers catch up to Japan’smanufacturers, both Subaru and Honda tumbled from the top group of“more reliable” brands, with Honda’s Civic compact car losing itslongstanding recommendation from Consumer Reports.

SUVs among the most error-prone models

Besides GM’s Buick, Volkswagen AG’s Audi luxury line ranked fourthand Kia Motors Corp.’s namesake brand came in fifth. Sedans,selling poorly amid low fuel prices, scored best, while hot-sellingSUVs are among the most error-prone models because of theircomplexity. Dashboard infotainment systems and fuel-savingmultispeed transmissions caused the most trouble.

“Certainly, Lexus and Toyota know what they’re doing, but lookat the top five: We’ve got America, Germany and South Korea— it’s anybody’s ballgame at the top,” said Jake Fisher,the magazine’s director of automotive testing, in an interview. “GMis making some very good cars today and Buick’s cars are veryreliable.”

The magazine’s survey started in 2001 and at the time lookedback at more than 20 years of data. That means Buick’s entry intothe top three is the first for a domestic brand in more than 35years of record-keeping.

Tesla Motors Inc.’s Model S sedan recovered its recommendation,after losing it last year, in the annual survey of Consumer Reportsreaders. But its Model X sport utility vehicle wasn’t recommendedbecause of multiple issues, including problems with the electroniccontrols on its 17-inch dashboard screen and failures of itsfalcon-winged doors, Fisher said. The Tesla brand ranked 25th amongthe 29 rated.

‘Wake-up call’

Buick has consistently scored in the top 10 of the Yonkers, NewYork-based magazine’s list, and climbed higher this year in partbecause of the simplicity of its model line, which is heavy onsedans and short on SUVs. Buick’s most reliable model is the Veranocompact car, one of its slowest sellers, while its Enclave SUVscored the lowest in the brand.

Buick’s high rating is “sure to be a wake-up call to othermanufacturers,” Fisher said.

GM’s Chevrolet was the second-highest U.S. brand, moving up fiveplaces from last year to 15th. Its most reliable model was theCruze subcompact, while its Suburban SUV scored the lowest. GM’sCadillac Escalade SUV was the lowest scoring model among the morethan 300 evaluated, earning a score of 3 on a scale of zero-to-100.Cadillac rose four places to 21st, but remained among the “lessreliable” brands. GM’s GMC fell five places to 24th, pulled down bya low score for its Yukon XL.

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“GM is going to continue to improve, but their Achilles’ heel isthat truck platform,” Fisher said of the mechanical foundation ofthe automaker’s big SUVs. “A couple years down the road, I fullyexpect they’re going to get a lot of the kinks worked out.”

Ford Motor Co.’s namesake brand fell one spot to 18th, while itsLincoln luxury line fell four places to 20th, ranking it among the“less reliable” brands. Ford’s Expedition large SUV, based on adesign that has been around for years, was the brand’s mostreliable model, while its Focus compact car was the worst.Lincoln’s top scorer was the MKZ sedan, while its MKC compact SUVwas its worst.

‘Less reliable’

Four of Fiat Chrysler Automobiles NV’s brands — Dodge,Chrysler, Fiat and Ram — were at the bottom of the list. Thecompany’s Jeep line rose four places to 23rd, but remained amongthe “less reliable” brands. The Ram pickup line was the lowestrated in the survey. The Jeep Patriot, which ends production nextyear, was that brand’s most reliable model, while its new smallRenegade SUV scored the lowest.

“They have struggled for years,” Fisher said of Fiat Chrysler’sbrands. “They really struggled this year with the 9-speed automatictransmissions,” which are aimed at improving fuel economy, but havemany moving parts that can fail.

Honda Motor Co., traditionally near the top of the rankings,fell two places, mostly due to the poor performance of the newCivic car, which lost its recommendation as it scored just 17points on the 100-point reliability scale. The Civic was named theNorth American Car of the Year by a panel of journalists at thisyear’s North American International Auto Show in Detroit.

“The redesign of the Civic was huge, the car drives differently,a completely different body, a new transmission, a turbo powertrainfor the first time, a new infotainment system that’s very buggy,”Fisher said. “People wrote in to say that while they were driving,the gauges would go out and reboot, so they would just lose theirgauges.”

The Civic’s big problem was its electronic infotainment system,which was second only to Volvo Car’s XC90 SUV in terms of problems.The XC90, which was the North American Truck of the Year, scoredpoorly in reliability and dragged Volvo down four places to 19th,among the “less reliable” marques.

Fisher said the XC90 “has the absolute worst infotainment systemproblems.”

Asian brands lead

Asian brands continued to outperform those from other regions, withall of them in the top half of the survey.

Lexus and Toyota were first and second for the fourthconsecutive year. All nine Lexus models had above-averagereliability ratings, as did all Toyota models except the 2016Tacoma pickup. The Lexus CT200h hybrid and its corporate sibling,the Toyota Prius, each scored 94, the highest among the more than300 models rated by Consumer Reports readers.

Tesla’s Model X ranked sixth from the bottom ofthe survey, with a score of just 12. The Model S scored 44, givingit average reliability, enough to win back the magazine’srecommendation, Fisher said. Tesla’s electric-drive system isreliable, but the brand loses points for fancy features, such aspower door handles that pop out from the side of the car,touchscreen controls and the Model X’s falcon-wing doors.

“What’s bringing them down is the gizmos,” Fisher said. “We sawmany complaints with the falcon-wing doors, with people not beingable to get in or out of the vehicle.”

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