Tesla may be riding high when it comes to wowing luxury car buyers, but it has fallen to near bottom of the pack when it comes to Consumer Reports magazine's latest auto reliability survey rankings.

The electric-car maker came in third from the bottom, tied with Cadillac, in the rankings of 29 brands in the survey released Wednesday. The only brand worse than Tesla and Cadillac was Volvo. Tesla fell six places from last year's survey.

The best auto brand in the survey was Lexus, followed by Toyota and Mazda, which moved up nine places. Seven of the top 10 brands come from Japan or South Korea.

By contrast, Detroit automakers fared poorly. The highest-ranking American brand, Ford, doesn't show up until 18th place. It was followed by Buick, Lincoln, Dodge, Jeep, Chevrolet, Chrysler, GMC and Ram before it comes to Tesla.

"The domestics are suffering from a few new products," said Jake Fisher, Consumer Reports' director of auto testing. He said reliability of some General Motors' redesigns "have taken a tumble," Ford continues to have issues with its latest in-car connectivity system and Fiat Chrysler "remains at the bottom of the list."

Cadillacs, for instance, "drive so well" and can "go toe-to-toe" with the imports but suffer from reliability issues, he said. Cadillac was down a single place from the year before in the survey.

Consumer Reports' ratings are among the most closely watched because the publication is notoriously independent. Its reliability ratings are based on what readers say about the vehicles they have bought.

When brands fare poorly, it is often because automakers haven't worked the bugs out of otherwise solid new models they have introduced.

Tesla, however, was brought down by a poor showing by the Model S luxury sedan, which has been on the market for about six years, said Jake Fisher, director of auto testing for the magazine.

New features that were added such as air suspension brought down its rating.

"The truth is the Model S is not an aging model. It's constantly being redesigned under the skin," Fisher said. Tesla, because of its ability to make changes in its models using over-the-air software updates in many cases, experiences "these growing pains differently than traditional car companies."

Tesla said in a statement that the suspension issue was due to a supplier issue and has been resolved. It "did not pose any threat to vehicle safety or drivability, and presented itself only when the car was parked."

More:Tesla CEO Elon Musk touts new Model 3, but it's a bit pricier than the one many expected

More:Dyson vacuum cleaner company to build electric vehicle factory in Singapore

While owners may ding the electric cars on reliability, Tesla, in its statement, pointed out that the same model has been tops among owners in overall satisfaction in a survey by Consumer Reports.

“Not only are our cars the safest and best performing vehicles available today, but we take feedback from our customers very seriously and quickly implement improvements any time we hear about issues," the statement said. "That’s just one of the reasons why Model S has been ranked number one on Consumer Reports’ owner satisfaction survey every year since 2013, which was the first year Tesla was included in their report."

The Model X crossover is worse for problems, Fisher said, but the brand's newest Model 3 car – its first aimed at the middle of the car market – was rated average.

Generally, car brands fare worse for reliability when they introduce complex new technology or complicated systems. That was the case with the worst-showing from Volvo, Fisher said.

A Volvo spokesman, Russell Datz, said he could not comment until he has seen the full report.

How brands fared and their average reliability score:

1. Lexus 78

2. Toyota 76

3. Mazda 69

4. Subaru 65

5. Kia 61 (tie)

6. Infiniti 61 (tie)

7. Audi 60

8. BMW 58

9. Mini 57 (tie)

10. Hyundai 57 (tie)

11. Porsche 54

12. Genesis 52

13. Acura 51 (tie)

14. Nissan 51 (tie)

15. Honda 50

16. Volkswagen 47 (tie)

17. Mercedes-Benz 47 (tie)

18. Ford 45

19. Buick 44

20. Lincoln 43

21. Dodge 40 (tie)

22. Jeep 40 (tie)

23. Chevrolet 39

24. Chrysler 38

25. GMC 37

26. Ram 34

27, Tesla 32 (tie)

28, Cadillac 32 (tie)

29. Volvo 22