J.D. Power and Associates 2010 Vehicle Dependability Study

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The most reliable cars
RICHARD BLACKBURN
March 19, 2010


J.D. Power and Associates 2010 Vehicle Dependability Study.
An annual dependability survey in the US has ranked Toyota, Honda and Ford as the most reliable mainstream brands.

Toyota's reputation has received a much needed boost, with the embattled Japanese car maker ranking first among mainstream brands in a leading quality survey in the US.

Toyota, which is under siege after recalling more than 8 million vehicles worldwide, came sixth in the JD Power vehicle dependability survey, finishing behind luxury brands Porsche, Lincoln, Buick, Lexus and Mercury.

The maker finished just in front of Japanese rival Honda and US giant Ford, which has steadily improved in recent years.

The JD Power study, which measures the number of problems experienced by car owners in their first three years of ownership, is widely recognised as the most authoritative in the industry.

It measures the "things gone wrong" per 100 vehicles and covers 198 different problems. Although it is not directly related to the Australian market, it remains the best guide for consumers, as local car makers still refuse to make similar survey information public here.

Luxury brands Porsche and Mercedes-Benz were the big movers this year, with Porsche taking the top spot after finishing 11th last year, while Mercedes-Benz jumped from 19th to 9th.

Overall, though, European car makers continue to record embarrassing results in the survey. Land Rover finished last out of the 36 brands with 255 problems per 100 vehicles, compared to Porsche's 110.

Volkswagen didn't fare much better, finishing 34th, while Audi, Jaguar, Volvo and BMW all finished below the industry average.

Korean brand Hyundai embarrassed more fancied brands, finishing 11th.

But David Sargent, vice president of global vehicle research for JD Power, says the rankings don't necessarily translate into sales for car makers.

While perception of quality and dependability is the most influential factor in people's new car purchase decisions, some brands that perform well in quality surveys are still avoided by buyers.

Mr Sargent says people still avoid some brands based on outdated perceptions of poor quality that don't match up with reality.

"Producing vehicles with world-class quality is just part of the battle for automakers; convincing customers to believe in their quality is equally as important," he says.

"It takes considerable time to positively change consumer perceptions of quality and dependability - sometimes a decade or more," he says.

Ford and Hyundai still suffered from poor reputations for quality, despite the fact that they ranked above the industry average in the survey.

Good one FORD !!!

[jpd80]

Good news for Ford, Lincoln is No.2 while Cadillac is No.12

[irlewy86]

Toyota - Things don't go wrong often, but when they do your pretty much stuffed.

[Bossxr8]

Toyota did ok this year, but just wait until the current cars get 3 years old and start being surveyed. Its all downhill from here.

Mazda's results are pretty bad.

[merlin]

lol@VW

[lofty]

That's interesting. 141 problems per 100 cars is 1.4 problems per car. That sounds ok, but there's no info on what kind of problems. Could be anything from a minor interior trim problem to a potentially lethal throttle failure. So I'm not sure how meaningful the raw number are. Still, it's better than nothing, which is what we get here.

[cs123]

surprised at the Mazda results

[Bad Bird]

This year AGAIN shows what I've been saying all along. So many people comment on how good European cars are, but in Australia and the US (where conditions are rough), they just get smashed to pieces.

[Luke Plaizier]

Why does that article focus on Toyota, Honda and Ford when there are so many ahead of them?

But it is worthy noting how well Lincoln and Mercury are also going - since they are Ford brands too.

Would the Falcon live up to Lincoln's brand quality if it were branded a Lincoln and exported?


Lukeyson

[irlewy86]

Originally Posted by Bad Bird

This year AGAIN shows what I've been saying all along. So many people comment on how good European cars are, but in Australia and the US (where conditions are rough), they just get smashed to pieces.

I wouldn't read to much into it, VW and Merc both have plants in the South/Mexico.

TGW can be a subjective test, its more about customer satisfaction than actual quality.

[aussie muscle]

Originally Posted by lofty

Still, it's better than nothing, which is what we get here.

and ford definately had those sort of questions in their customer satisfaction survey

[mickyyyy]

How come audi isent there???