Abstract: Reliability is a key indicator for evaluating the performance of machine tools. Among the various methods used in reliability analysis, failure mode, effects, and criticality analysis (FMECA) is one of the most widely adopted and serves as an essential tool for improving machine tool reliability. However, traditional FMECA approaches are limited by overly simplistic evaluation criteria that fail to capture the complexity of CNC machine tools, and their straightforward calculation processes are prone to subjective bias, which can compromise the accuracy of the analysis. To overcome these limitations, this study expands the range of considered risk factors and introduces maintenance cost as an additional evaluation criterion. The best-worst method (BWM) is applied to determine the weights of these criteria, followed by the multi-criteria optimization and compromise solution (VIKOR) method to prioritize failure modes. A practical case study is conducted to demonstrate the effectiveness of the proposed approach, with results compared against those obtained using traditional FMECA methods.