As usual, Lexus ranks highest, Toyota ranks highest among mass market brands, and Tesla lingers near the bottom. Wayne Gerdes – CleanMPG – Feb. 8, 2024 Infographic sourced from JD Power. Vehicle owners are experiencing lower levels of vehicle dependability after three years of ownership, according to J.D. Power’s latest 2024 U.S. Vehicle Dependability Study (VDS). The high number of problems owners encounter indicates yet another decline in long-term vehicle dependability, with increasing levels of problems reported for nearly two-thirds of brands included in the study. The industry average has increased 4 problems per 100 vehicles (PP100) year over year to 190 PP100 from 2023. The rate at which problems have increased between 90 days and three years of ownership has increased to 17%, up 5 percentage points from 12% in 2023. Toyota returned to the top of the corporate rankings with a composite score of 146 (PP100) with 16 of 17 eligible Lexus or Toyota models ranking in the Top 3 of their segments. The study, now in its 35th year, covers 184 specific problem areas across nine major vehicle categories: climate; driving assistance; driving experience; exterior; features/controls/displays; infotainment; interior; powertrain; and seats. Highlights of the 2024 JD Power VDS Infotainment operation continues to plague owners: The most problematic vehicle category continues to be infotainment (49.1 PP100) - nearly twice as many problems as the next-highest category. Android Auto and Apple CarPlay connectivity (6.3 PP100) is the top problem, followed by built-in voice recognition (6.1 PP100). Annoyance with driver assistance alerts: The number of problems related to driver assistance system alerts have increased between the 90-day ownership period and three-years of ownership. Problems include lane departure warning/lane keeping assistance and forward collision warning/automatic emergency braking alerts or actions. Electrified vehicles are more problematic than others: BEV and PHEV owners experience more problems than owners of gas-powered and HEVs. BEVs are most troublesome (256 PP100), followed by PHEVs (216 PP100). Hybrids (191 PP100) and gasoline vehicles (187 PP100) fare significantly better. At three years of ownership, tires are a sore spot for BEVs, with 39% of owners saying they replaced tires in the past 12 months—19 percentage points higher than owners of gas-powered vehicles. Toyota wins most segment awards: Toyota’s nine segment awards is the most received by any automaker since 2017 when the Japanese automaker received 10 awards. The most improved brands: The top three brands showing the greatest improvement in the number of problems are Porsche (33 PP100 improvement); Mercedes-Benz (22 PP100 improvement); and Toyota (21 PP100 improvement). Highest-Ranked Brands - Lexus ranks highest in overall vehicle dependability for a second consecutive year, with a score of 135 PP100. Porsche (175 PP100) ranks second and BMW (190 PP100) ranks third. Toyota ranked highest in the mass market segment, with a score of 147 PP100. Buick (149 PP100) ranked second, while Chevrolet (174 PP100) and MINI (174 PP100) each ranked third in a tie. Toyota received the most model-level awards with nine: Lexus ES Lexus IS Lexus NX Lexus RX Toyota 4Runner Toyota Camry Toyota Corolla Toyota Tacoma Toyota Tundra GM receives four segment awards for Buick Encore, Chevrolet Equinox, Chevrolet Traverse and Chevrolet Tahoe. BMW AG receives two segment awards for BMW X1 and BMW X6. The 2024 U.S. Vehicle Dependability Study is based on responses from 30,595 original owners of 2021 model-year vehicles after three years of ownership. The study was fielded from August through November 2023.
