Toyota’s three brands—Scion, Toyota, and Lexus— have excelled in the rating by sweeping top spots. Toyota Prius C the hatchback Prius, the larger Prius V, and the new Prius plug-in were all ranked as being above average in Consumer Reports’ Auto Reliability Survey.

“Toyota being at the top is really nothing new. The Japanese have always been up there. They kind of shuffle positions,” Bloomberg quoted Jake Fisher, director of automotive testing for Consumer Reports.

Like Us on Facebook

Interestingly, four other Japanese brands such as the Mazda, Subaru, Honda and Acura also made it to the top list. And among the 90 Japanese models in the Consumer Reports' brand comparison, 86 were ranked as being average or better.

Meanwhile, a number of reliability problems in Ford’s new and redesigned models such as the Explorer, Fiesta and Focus have led to the brand dropping down in the Reliability Survey.

Just two year’s back Ford was among the top 10 reliable brands with 90 percent of its models being rated as being average or better, the report, based on subscribers' experiences with 1.2 million vehicles, showed.

According to Fisher 60 percent of Ford-branded models and half of Lincolns were below average in predicted reliability. “And none placed above average," said Fisher.

Commenting on Ford’s decline as a reliable brand, Consumer Reports issued a statement saying that while many redesigned models such as the Explorer and Fiesta had problems as soon as they were launched, the MyFord and MyLincoln Touch electronic infotainment system too hasn’t clicked.

According to experts, future is bleak for Ford.

Ford is “bringing in some new technologies that aren’t really all worked-out,” Fisher told Bloomberg. “They’re taking that system and putting it in more and more vehicles, so there’s really not an indication that even next year things are going to get better.”