There are a few places to obtain product reliability for electronics such as Consumer Reports.  However, to my knowledge they don't provide any reports on video game consoles.  Without any information the consumer is forced to rely on speculation from the internet from a variety of unreliable sources.  To my knowledge there isn't any site or place that collects data on reliability of video game consoles.  I am sure that some companies might want to have this information kept from the consumer.  Wouldn't it be nice to actually have some data instead of bullshit websites spitting out numbers that vary greatly.  If a console has a high failure rate after the warranty is up that provides a consumer with valuable knowledge if they want to avoid having to rebuy systems.  Sure video games consoles are mainly purchased for the games but it nice to know that you are buying something that is reliable.  It would be like someone buying a Land Rover, Saturn, or Chrysler (which are all ranked at the bottom of 2009 Consumer Reports Best & Worst Cars in reliability by brand) because the car looks nice and not knowing it has terrible reliability.  Reliability is just one factor to consider when buying a console and it is usually the last thing on most consumers minds.  There are consumers out there like me that want to know their product won't break after 1-2 years and if it does it leaves a very negative view on that company for the rest of their lives.  However, if that consumer saw valid reports that showed the company vastly improved on it's reliability then they may consider giving that company another try.

I guess no one gives a shit about reliability here.

I do and I think you have some very good points even if you are alittle colourfull in how you express them.
But very good all the same the problem I think you'll find is that the number of players [console makers] is to small.
So they would have to be lumped in with other things of different nature so it will be hard to get good infomation about them.
Also the makers won't freely give it up unless they are made to by law so it gets back tthe fact that you need more players in the market to make those kind of laws.

Okay, I also see your points. I just thought that the industry has grown big enough and more mainstream with the current and previous generations to warrant more supervision of the quality of products. The data would be hard to get because polling could be skewed if some fanboys lie about which consoles they own and which needed repaired. The only semi reliable data would come from the companies themselves. This data from the company wouldn't be entirely accurate either since some people may not notify or send their consoles in when they break, but it would be at least a start. I suppose in the next few generations governments might mandate more opening of the records from the companies.

The only reliable information would come from a straight serial number count reported to a tracker. Even then you'd need enough reporters to even out the variables from small sample sizes.

While it's easy to track reliability of something as heavily regulated as an automobile, how reliable is their consumer electronics tracking?

I'd love to see a site that tracked serials on every piece that was reported but consumers are going to be less than eager to give up that kind of information (especially the types who are smart enough to go find a site that tracks that sort of thing).

Except, companies don't give away that information. Consumer reports have to do their own investigations, so if you're really concerned why don't you ask them to do a survey or something?

Perhaps if you structured your text using paragraphs so it was easier to read you would perhaps have more replies. Check out rocketpig's post above and break up your post a bit in a similar way so it's not as hard for people to read.

On the actual reliability front I don't think it's possible for consumer to get honest reliability reports from companies.

well, for that sort of thing, they should