Autoblog and Yahoo may earn commission from links in this article.In February, the Chevrolet Equinox won a J.D. Power dependability award. Genesis finished second among luxury brands for initial quality in June, and GMC tied for second among mass-market brands for technology in August. All three build vehicles on Consumer Reports' least reliable SUV list for 2026. Only Jeep, the fourth brand on that list, does not appear in those results.None of that is wrong, and none of it tells you much about the car you would actually be buying.AdvertisementAdvertisementCR named those SUVs before any of the trophies were handed out. Eight made the list; these are five of them. The two CR scored in its published bottom ten lead here, and the other three follow on what has accumulated against them since. Then there is the Chevrolet Tahoe, rated below average, under federal investigation, and not on the list at all.5. Genesis GV702026 Genesis GV70GenesisIn June, Genesis finished second among all luxury makers in J.D. Power's initial quality study, at 151 problems per 100 vehicles, against a premium-brand average of 169. In Consumer Reports' reliability rankings it sits 21st of 26 brands, ahead of only Chrysler, GMC, Jeep, Ram, and Rivian.Those two numbers measure different things, and the GV70 is where the difference shows. It carries three open recalls, filed one after another: side curtain airbags that may not deploy, in November 2025, instrument panel displays that can stop showing the speedometer, in January 2026, and a fuel line that can leak at a pipe connection, in April. Electronics are the brand's most-cited trouble spot in CR's data, but a fuel leak isn't a software problem, and a survey taken at 90 days won't find either one.4. Chevrolet Equinox2026 Chevrolet EquinoxChevroletConsumer Reports pulled its recommendation from the Equinox in December 2025. Ten weeks later, J.D. Power handed the same nameplate a model-level dependability award.AdvertisementAdvertisementThe award and the warning aren't looking at the same car. J.D. Power surveyed 2023 vehicles at three years old. CR's warning is aimed at the 2025 redesign, which owners report for transmission fluid leaks, control computer faults, electrical accessory failures, and infotainment that reboots itself.Its 2026 safety record is quiet, one February campaign over radios that failed to download the electronic owner's manual. But when J.D. Power published its technology study on August 20, Chevrolet came in at 440 points against a mass-market average of 443, tied with Volkswagen, which is not a result that argues with the complaints.3. Jeep Grand CherokeeJared Rosenholtz/AutoblogConsumer Reports flags steering, suspension, and drivetrain problems along with noises and leaks. None of that comes from recall data, but from owner surveys, which is what puts a vehicle on this list at all. The current generation launched in 2022, which is five model years to find and fix whatever is generating those reports.The recall file is separate from CR's survey data, and it is not short. In September 2025, 91,787 Grand Cherokee plug-in hybrids were recalled for a software fault that could cut drive power without warning. Two months later, 91,844 Grand Cherokee plug-in hybrids were told to park outside and stop charging because battery cells with damaged separators can catch fire. In August the 2026 Grand Cherokee was among 848,511 Stellantis vehicles whose radio software can leave the rearview camera blank, with owner notices beginning in September.AdvertisementAdvertisementJeep finished 24th of 26 brands in CR's rankings, ahead of only Ram and Rivian.2. Chevrolet Blazer EV2026 Chevrolet Blazer EVChevroletConsumer Reports scores the Blazer EV at 19 out of 100 and expects it to be much less reliable than the average new car. That puts it third from the bottom of CR's list of the 10 least reliable vehicles in America, behind only the Rivian R1T at 18 and the Acadia at 14.CR's verdict rests on the 2024 and 2025 model years, which is a short record for a car this new but also the only data available. Its single 2026 recall is the same February radio campaign that caught the Equinox.1. GMC Acadia2026 GMC AcadiaGMCAt 14 out of 100, the Acadia carries the lowest predicted reliability figure on CR's entire list, five points below the Blazer EV and worse than every EV on it, in a conventional gasoline three-row crossover.AdvertisementAdvertisementOwners report transmission failures, brake malfunctions, electrical faults, infotainment screens that quit, thermostats that trigger reduced steering assist warnings, climate leaks, shifter problems. The year-by-year data shows the shape of it: the 2022 and 2023 Acadias rated about average, the 2025 rates much less reliable than average, and the redesign landed in 2024.Then there is the fault GM has acknowledged in writing. Since January 2026 it has had a preliminary bulletin out covering 2024 through 2026 Acadias, along with the Traverse and Enclave that share the platform, whose all-wheel drive can quit and throw a Service All Wheel Drive warning. The instruction to dealers is to disconnect the battery for 20 minutes, cycle the power, and clear the codes, with the caveat that the fault may come back. Replacing the rear drive control module does not help, GM says, because the replacement behaves the same way. When the bulletin was updated in June, engineering was still hunting the cause.The bulletin is not a recall, and it appears in no recall data, which is much of the Acadia's story. The failures owners report are mostly not the kind that trigger a federal filing, but the kind that fill service bays.Three More SUVs Made Consumer Reports' Least Reliable ListThree more vehicles made CR's list without making the five above: the GMC Terrain, the Genesis GV80, and the Volkswagen Taos.AdvertisementAdvertisementThere is also a wrinkle inside CR's own numbers. Its published bottom ten contains six SUVs that never made the SUV list at all: the Mazda CX-90 Plug-in Hybrid at 20, the Genesis GV60 at 21, the CX-90 at 23, the Kia EV9 at 24, and the Kia EV6 and Honda Prologue at 25. That bottom ten stops at 26 points, while the three SUV-list entries without a published score do not appear in it. The category list and the scored list are answering different questions.The Chevrolet Traverse and Buick Enclave are not on the list either, though both carry the same unresolved AWD bulletin as the Acadia.The Tahoe Is Rated Below Average And Still Missed The List2026 Chevrolet TahoeJared Rosenholtz/AutoblogView the 3 images of this gallery on the original articleIn February, the Chevrolet Tahoe won a J.D. Power model-level dependability award, one of four General Motors collected that day. On August 20, federal regulators escalated their inquiry into the engine it uses to an engineering analysis.AdvertisementAdvertisementConsumer Reports rates the 2026 Tahoe below average, expecting it to be less reliable than the average new car, a judgment drawn from the 2023, 2024 and 2025 model years. The Tahoe also carries three recalls filed this year: the February electronic owner's manual campaign, a missing transfer case component that can lock the front or rear wheels without warning, and incorrect bolts on the front wheel hubs of cars ordered with 24-inch wheels, which can loosen or break.EA26005 covers 997,743 GM trucks and SUVs from the 2021 through 2026 model years fitted with the 6.2-liter L87 V8, the Tahoe among them. GM recalled that engine once already, attributing the fault to machining debris from a supplier. The agency has logged 499 complaints since then. That is a small number against nearly a million vehicles, but every one came from an owner whose engine had already been repaired under the earlier recall. GM has reported 6,953 of its own, roughly 14 times as many. An engineering analysis is the second of NHTSA's two investigation stages, opened when a preliminary evaluation does not settle the question.So why isn't the Tahoe on it? Partly because below average isn't the same as worst: CR rates a lot of vehicles below average, its list is the bottom slice, and the Tahoe doesn't score low enough to reach it.The larger reason is what that verdict is built from. CR says plainly that its 2026 Tahoe rating is drawn from 2023, 2024 and 2025 owner data. That verdict can't contain a recall filed in May or an investigation opened in August, because those cars are not in it. Predicted reliability is a projection from what has already happened, which is the source of both its value and its blind spot.Three Of These Five Are GM Products, And Nobody Will Say WhyThree of these five are GM products, and the Acadia and Equinox are both recent ground-up redesigns whose predecessors rated better. The correlation is documented and consistent, heavy on transmissions, driveline parts, leaks, and electronics. The cause behind it has not been established. GM has documented individual faults, including the AWD issue, but it has not explained why this generation is producing this volume of complaints, and no independent engineering analysis has established a cause. Anyone offering you a theory is inventing one.AdvertisementAdvertisementOne thing is worth carrying into the next round of good news. February's dependability survey graded three-year-old cars, while June's quality index and August's technology study graded new ones at 90 days. Consumer Reports asks owners across several model years what has gone wrong lately, which is a different question from either, and it cuts both ways. The most reliable SUVs of 2026 earned their places from the same backward-looking data. Any one of them could be collecting complaints right now that will not surface in a ranking for another two years. So when an award and a warning land on the same badge in the same season, the first thing to check is how old the cars were when somebody asked. In the Equinox's case the answer settles it. The award belongs to a car Chevrolet no longer sells.This story was originally published by Autoblog on Sep 3, 2026, where it first appeared in the Features section. Add Autoblog as a Preferred Source by clicking here.