J.D. Powers 2010 Vehicle Dependability Survey. This is a reliable survey for quality because it looks at cars that have been in the market for three years, and measures 198 different areas of a vehicle.

dependability


According to JD Powers, twenty-five of 36 vehicle brands have improved in long-term dependability in 2010, compared with their performance in 2009, continuing a steady trend of industry-wide improvement.

The study, which measures problems experienced by original owners of three-year-old (2007 model year) vehicles, includes 198 different problem symptoms across all areas of the vehicle. Overall dependability is determined by the level of problems experienced per 100 vehicles (PP100), with a lower score reflecting higher quality.

The Vehicle Dependability Study is used extensively by vehicle manufacturers worldwide to help design and build better vehicles.

According to J.D. Power and Associates, among new-vehicle shoppers, perception of quality and dependability is the most influential factor in their decision to purchase a specific vehicle model.

The study also found that several brands that perform well in long-term dependability in 2010 are heavily avoided due to consumer concerns about dependability.
Cadillac, Ford, Hyundai, Lincoln and Mercury were found to have the greatest difference  between dependability performance and poor consumer perception.


Here is the J D Powers vehicle dependability study
from 2009 for comparison.
from best to worst

1) Buick
2) Jaguar
3) Lexus
4) Toyota
5) Mercury
6) Infiniti
7) Acura
8) Lincoln
9) Cadillac







 Dependabiliy Rating by JD Power		 10) Honda
11) Porsche
12) Audi
13) Ford
14) Hyundai
15) Subaru
16) Chrysler
17) BMW
18) GMC
19) Mercedes-Benz


 20) Chevrolet
21) Mitsubishi
22) Volvo
23) Nissan
24) Dodge
25) MINI
26) Saturn
27) Kia
28) Jeep
29) Pontiac


 30) Hummer
31) Scion
32) Saab
33) Mazda
34) Isuzu
35) Land Rover
36) Volkswagen
37) Suzuki






Consumer Reports Reliability report from October 2009.

According to Consumer Reports, this reliability survey is based on an annual survey of Consumer Reports and ConsumerReports.org subscribers and is not derived from their vehicle testing.

They create a reliability history for each model from the survey over the course of 10 model years, 2000 to 2009. This predicted-reliability score is based on a model's overall reliability for the latest three model years, provided that the 2010 version hasn't changed significantly.

Results

Domestics:
Ford consolidated its position as the only Detroit automaker with world-class reliability.

Of the 51 Ford, Mercury, and Lincoln products that were surveyed, 46, or about 90 percent, were average or better, including the new Ford Flex SUV.

Some newer GM products were bright spots. Besides the Malibu, the Buick Lucerne also did well in their road tests, and it scored average in reliability. The Chevrolet Traverse SUV also made the cut, as did its cousin, the Buick Enclave in the all-wheel-drive version. The Chevrolet Silverado and GMC Sierra 1500 pickups, two good performers, earned their recommendation as well. Consumer Reports says GM has a number of strong contenders either just released or in the pipeline, but they won't have reliability data on them for a while.

One Chrysler product made the cut, the four-wheel-drive version of the Dodge Ram 1500 pickup, which was redesigned for 2009. It did well in road tests and rated average in reliability. More than one-third of Chrysler products were rated worse than average in their survey.

Asians:
Asian brands still dominate.
In its first year, the Honda Insight had the best new car reliability in their survey, but scored too low in testing to be recommended. The major Japanese brands and South Korea's Hyundai and Kia make plenty of reliable vehicles. Of the 48 models with top reliability scores, 36 were Asian. Toyota accounted for 18; Honda, eight; Nissan, four; and Hyundai/Kia and Subaru, three each.

On the whole, Japanese vehicles are consistently good. All Hondas and Acuras were average or above. Toyota, with its Lexus and Scion brands providing a broader product range, had just one vehicle that was below average in reliability, the Lexus GS AWD.

Subaru has been a very reliable brand, but this year the turbocharged Impreza WRX turned up with a worse-than-average reliability score even though other versions of the Impreza have been average or better, as were all other Subarus.

Hyundai and Kia: The Hyundai Elantra and Tucson, and the Kia Sportage got top marks. The only models that scored below average were the Kia Sedona minivan and Sorento SUV.

European:
European brands continue to improve. Mercedes-Benz made great strides in their survey, with most models average.

Volkswagen and Audi are improving. The Volkswagen Rabbit got top scores. Both the Passat and Audi A3 have improved to average. The new VW Tiguan SUV was average. The Audi Q7 SUV continues to be much worse than average, while the VW Touareg, which had the worst new car prediction score in the survey, is 27 times more likely to have a problem than the best, the Honda Insight.

All of Volvo's sedans were rated average or better, but Volvo's XC90 SUV was rated below average.




 

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