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Of all the J.D. Power & Associates motorcar studies on the market, the Vehicle Dependability Study (VDS) is the one that matters most, fifty-fifty if information technology's looking three years into the rear-view mirror. Lexus, Porsche, Buick, Infiniti, and Kia had the highest reliability on VDS this twelvemonth.

Others could crow most VDS. I brand, No. six (overall) Chevrolet, had x of the 51 most highly ranked cars and and Full general Motors overall placed fifteen  models in the top tiers. For every winner, at that place's a loser. Cadillac fabricated the bottom five. Premium make State Rover was cushioned from the lesser spot past Chrysler; both suffered twice the problems as the top brands.

Mainstream Cars Close the Gap vs. Luxury Cars

The average score this year was 142 problems per 100 model year 2022 vehicles (PP100 in Power terminology), a 14 point or nine percent improvement from 2022'southward survey of 2022 models. (Lower scores are better scores.) It's the first uptick in VDS quality since 2022.

"Mass market" or mainstream cars are closing the gap on the luxury models. In the 2022 VDS they are just seven points apart: 143 PP100 for mainstream cars, 142 PP100 industry boilerplate, and 136 PP100 for luxury brands. Long-term, this is a challenge for the loftier-stop brands, because i historical assumption was that price bought reliability. Grandpa might say that if he had the money, he'd take Buick or Cadillac over Chevrolet. This year Buick is No. 3 of 31 brands (good call, Gramps), simply Chevrolet is right behind at No. 6, while Cadillac struggles to detect itself at No. 27.

2015 Toyota Prius. tops in the Compact Car segment.

Engineering Causes Big Problems for Automakers

Co-ordinate to Power, in-vehicle technology continues to be nigh problematic. "Sound/Communications/ Amusement/Navigation" (ACEN) remains a troublesome category for vehicle owners, receiving the highest frequency of complaints," the company said in a release. "The two well-nigh mutual problems relate to built-in voice recognition (9.3 PP100) and built-in Bluetooth connectivity (seven.vii PP100)." In other words, as many equally one in 10 buyers said they had problem with vox recognition and Bluetooth.

It would also be interesting to see the difference between touchscreen-only systems vs. those that also allow a controller, touchpad, or writing pad for input at well. That is the kind of drill-down Power sells to automakers, only doesn't pause out publicly.

Adept Year for GM and Team USA

Overall, the traditional American brands — Ford Motor, Full general Motors, and the Chrysler-Dodge-Ram function of FCA — garnered 23 of the pinnacle 51 rankings. We're counting not just the tiptop model in each segment (see below), but also typically the adjacent 2, which Power too publicizes. It'southward difficult to tell the margin of mistake separating winner from runner-up in each segment, just as it'south difficult to say if Lexus' 99 issues per 100 is statistically amend that Porsche's 100 per 100.

If you've grown tired of the "I can't believe Chevy won and so many awards" ads, get set for more: Chevrolet had x top-iii finishes, Buick had 4, GMC 1 (and Cadillac none), giving GM fifteen spots. Past that measure out, Toyota (4) and Lexus (6) had 10, while Ford/Lincoln had 6 and BMW 5.

Even when you lot go a bad score, in that location's expert news. Power notes, "Fiat is the most improved make, with owners indicating 106 fewer PP100 than in 2022." Which puts Fiat in 29th place. Dodge and Nissan had their best results in the 29 years of the Vehicle Dependability Study. That puts Dodge in 23rd while is Nissan is tied for 10th. Infiniti, Ford, and Kia also made notable improvements, while Toyota brutal from third to 9th.

2018 US Vehicle Dependability Study rankings

Hither are the 31 brands measured in the 2022 VDS. Where's Tesla? The visitor doesn't cooperate with Ability (that is, it doesn't brand available the customer lists), and then Power doesn't survey Tesla.

  1. Lexus  99 (problems per 100 model year 2022 vehicles)
  2. Porsche  100
  3. Buick  116
  4. Infiniti  120
  5. Kia  122
  6. Chevrolet  124 (necktie)
  7. Hyundai  124 (necktie)
  8. BMW  127
  9. Toyota 127
  10. Lincoln 133 (necktie)
  11. Nissan  133 (tie)
  12. Honda  140
  13. Audi 141
    Industry Average 142
  14. Mazda  144
  15. Mercedes-Benz  147
  16. Ford  152
  17. Mini  153
  18. GMC  156
  19. Volkswagen  157
  20. Acura 159 (tie)
  21. Jaguar  159 (tie)
  22. Volvo  162
  23. Dodge  166
  24. Ram  167 (tie)
  25. Subaru  167 (tie)
  26. Mitsubishi  173
  27. Cadillac  186
  28. Jeep  188
  29. Fiat  192
  30. Land Rover  204
  31. Chrysler  211

Audi Q3 was tops in the Small Premium SUV category, in its first year with the new model.

Meridian 3 Models Per Segment

Power cites a winner in each category. Each category generally has two other highly ranked vehicles, but it ranges from none or one actress through three others in the midsize pickup category. Power says there were non enough eligible vehicles for an accolade in Big Premium Automobile segment.

Segment – Highest Ranked Vehicle (Others Ranked)

  • Small Car — Kia Rio (Chevrolet Sonic, Nissan Versa)
  • Small Premium Car* — Lexus CT (BMW 2 Series)
  • Meaty Car — Toyota Prius (Buick Verano, Nissan Leaf)
  • Compact Premium Car — Lexus ES (Infiniti Q40, BMW four Series)
  • Compact Sporty Car* — Mini Cooper (merely model cited)
  • Midsize Car — Chevrolet Malibu (Toyota Camry, Buick Regal)
  • Midsize Sporty Car* — Dodge Challenger (Chevrolet Camaro)
  • Midsize Premium Car* — Lexus GS (BMW 5 Series)
  • Big Car — Buick LaCrosse (Chevrolet Impala, Ford Taurus)
  • Pocket-size SUV — Hyundai Tucson (Chevrolet Trax, Volkswagen Tiguan)
  • Small-scale Premium SUV — Audi Q3 (BMW X1, Mercedes-Benz GLA)
  • Compact SUV — Chevrolet Equinox (GMC Terrain, Ford Escape)
  • Compact Premium SUV — Mercedes-Benz GLK-Class (Porsche Macan, Lexus NX)
  • Midsize Pickup* — Toyota Tacoma (Nissan Borderland)
  • Midsize SUV — Chevrolet Traverse (Buick Enclave, Hyundai Santa Fe, Toyota Venza)
  • Midsize Premium SUV — Lexus RX (Lincoln MKX, Lexus GX)
  • Minivan* — Honda Odyssey (Chrysler Boondocks & Country)
  • Large SUV* — Ford Trek (Chevrolet Tahoe)
  • Large Light Duty Pickup* — Chevrolet Silverado (Ford F-150)
  • Large Heavy Duty Pickup* — Ford Super Duty (Chevrolet Silverado HD)

*No other model in this segment performs to a higher place segment average.

What Is VDS and Why Information technology Matters

JD Ability is the best-known, by far, of the companies surveying the auto manufacture. Told to buzz off by U.s. automakers a generation agone, it gained traction by publicizing its findings through the media, which led buyers to await to brands with loftier reliability scores, which led the industry to improve quality.

The Initial Quality Survey (IQS) held great weight early on. It measured repairs needed in the starting time 90 days, but today not much falls off fifty-fifty the worst cars in three months. Released in June, information technology serves as the coal-mine canary for auto tech that isn't working out well. In comparison, VDS (mid-February) looks at issues later on three years of buying — by and large reliability, only too "things gone wrong" such every bit problematic Bluetooth pairings or difficult-to-apply nav systems.

The very all-time use of VDS is for buyers of three-twelvemonth-old cars coming off charter. It's besides a practiced indicator of where the automakers accept been and, to the extent you lot believe in trend lines, a rough indicator of where they stand today.