Cars that Answer Phone Calls, Read Texts Break Down More, Survey Finds - East Idaho News
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Cars that Answer Phone Calls, Read Texts Break Down More, Survey Finds

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GETTY 102813 CARELECTRONICS?  SQUARESPACE CACHEVERSION=1382999466655David Becker/Getty Images(NEW YORK) — Cars that navigate, answer phone calls, and read text messages are more likely to break down, a new survey finds.

New car owners say computer infotainment systems are the most unreliable parts of their cars, according to Consumer Reports‘ annual Auto Reliability Report, released on Monday.

Jake Fisher, director of Auto Testing at Consumer Reports, said manufacturers keep adding more screens and are still working out the bugs.

“If you look at some of the basic fundamental brakes and engine transmissions, at this point, manufacturers have done really good in terms of making these cars very reliable in those types of situations. But it’s the electronics that are having problems,” Fisher said.

“We see a lot of complex electronics and basically these cars are become computers or iPads with wheels on them and some of those systems are not working very well,” Fisher said.

Car electronics ranked highest among the 17 different surveyed problem areas.

“Across all the vehicles we see a lot of problems with the phone pairing gets dropped, the system blocks up. Even systems like where the CD player will stop working or become non-responsive,” Fisher said.

Readers ranked Lexus GS, Toyota Prius, and Acura ILX highest, while Ford C-Max, Lincoln MKT, and Mini Cooper Countryman were ranked lowest.

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