Dyson and Hoover 'unreliable'

DYSON and Hoover may be two iconic brands on the High Street - but you can't rely on them working, says a consumer watchdog.

They were bottom of the league for dependability among bigselling brands of domestic appliances, according to Which?

Miele and Bosch are named as the most reliable makes in the report, based on a survey of more than 14,000 householders.

Only one Hoover owner in three would recommend their washing machine to a friend, compared with 89% of Miele owners.

Yesterday's report also revealed that a Hoover washing machine is more than three times likely to need a repair in the first six years than a Bosch or Miele machine.

Bosch is in the top group for dishwashers and washing machines, while Miele makes trustworthy washing machines and is in the elite group for cylinder vacuum cleaners.

By comparison, Dysons, famed for their bagless technology, were lambasted. Which? said almost three in ten owners of upright models and two in ten with cylinder machines have needed repairs.

Editor Malcolm Coles said: 'Bosch and Miele are brands you can trust and they're not going to leave you with dishwashers full of dirty dishes or vacs that won't suck.

'On the other hand, you simply can't rely on Dyson and Hoover to be reliable. Dyson's vacuum cleaners are languishing at the bottom of our reliability tables - and getting worse.

'For example, Dyson's cylinder vacs were more than five times more likely to go wrong that Miele's. In 2002, 21% of Dysons up to six years old needed repairs. Now it's a dreadful 29%.

'Making reliable appliances that perform well isn't impossible - just ask Miele and Bosch, which produce plenty of Best Buys.'

And children's lives are being put at risk by car seats that were exposed as unsafe two years ago, says Which?

Eight seats that were found to provide inadequate protection in the event of a serious crash are still available in Britain.

Which? warned that they are leaving children vulnerable to horrific head and spinal injuries.

The products have all passed minimum legal standards and would guard youngsters in a smash at 30mph. But they fared poorly in more stringent crash tests and side-impact tests.

Three of the seats - Britax's Cruiser Plus, the Ranger and the Trio were all revealed as unsafe by Which? in 2003.

The worst offender was the £185 Navetta Carry Cot, from Huddersfield company Mamas and Papas, which was first exposed as a risk last year.