Seven General Motors truck models and two Hyundai vehicles have picked up recommendations from the influential US magazine Consumer Reports after improving their scores on reliability surveys, according to Reuters. Reuters said the magazine’s reliability scores come from 480,000 surveys filled out by Consumer Reports subscribers asking about models built between 2000 and 2002. To win a "recommended" rating, a vehicle must have reliability no more than 20 percent below the average of all models in the survey, Reuters added. Consumer Reports said it was now recommending the Chevrolet Avalanche, Silverado and GMC Sierra pickups, as well as the Chevy Tahoe and Suburban sport utility vehicles and their GMC twins, the Yukon and Yukon XL, Reuters said. "The GM trucks back in 1999 were particularly unreliable, and they've clawed their way back to average reliability," said the director of Consumer Reports' automotive testing David Champion, according to Reuters. According to Reuters, Ford domestic brands have just two vehicles recommended, the Ford Taurus and Mercury Sable saloons. Reuters said Ford foreign brands had mixed results; Volvo won recommendations on three models, but the Jaguar S-type and X-type saloons ranked at or near the bottom of their classes for reliability. The recommendations for Hyundai's Sonata sedan and Santa Fe SUV were the first for the Korean car maker, which has been fighting a reputation for poor quality, Reuters said.