Consumer Reports does an About-Face on the Tesla Model S.

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?Consumer Reports, the most trustworthy, data-driven outlet for reliability ratings on cars and everything else, just released its annual report naming the most and least reliable cars on the U.S. market today. And in a rather surprising twist, the Tesla Model S that Consumer Reports gave a better-than-perfect 103-point rating less than two months ago gets a "not recommended" thanks to what CR calls "declining reliability."

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That 103-out-of-100 score was part of CR's new-car testing, where the organization tests a car's acceleration, handling, ride quality, and things like that. It's akin to a traditional car magazine's road test, using a brand-new car in controlled testing—though Consumer Reports differs from many other outlets by anonymously purchasing the cars it tests, rather than accepting a vehicle from an automaker's press fleet.

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The approximately 1,400 Model S owners surveyed by CR "chronicled an array of detailed and complicated maladies," the organization reports. The most prevalent complaints had to do with squeaks and rattles from the body, but respondents also mentioned issues that required replacement of the car's electric motors. Warping brake rotors and difficulties with the complex, electrically-operated retracting doorhandles were also mentioned by numerous owners. Other problem areas included inoperable windshield wipers, leaking battery cooling pumps, trunklid alignment, and suspension alignment.

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Despite these problems, CR reports that Tesla owner satisfaction is still very high, with a full 97 percent of owners saying they would definitely buy their car again.

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