Toyota Motor Corp. Tops in Vehicle Dependability

Toyota took top honors in a reliability report by J.D. Power and Associates.  Logo is registered trademark of Toyota.

J.D. Power & Associates released its findings on overall vehicle quality for cars from the model year 2009.  The report was made from a sample size of 31,000 vehicle owners with 3 years of ownership of a vehicle from 2009. 

The automotive industry as a whole has made strides in improving vehicle reliability, with an improvement of 19 less problems per 100 vehicles over the report from last year.  The current industry average is now 132 problems per 100 vehicles.  (PP100)

Lexus, Toyota's luxury division, took top honors in the long term reliability report, and its LS series of vehicles had only 72 PP100.  Toyota tied with GM in 3rd place with each having 104 PP100, and Scion placed 5th with 111 PP100.  Overall, the Japanese manufacturer took 8 awards for reliability, beating all other manufacturers.  The Prius took its 5th straight award for reliability in the compact car segment. 

Toyota's Prius took its 5th consecutive award for reliability.

For European brands, Porsche took top honors by placing 2nd with 98 PP100.  The only other European manufacturer to score above average in reliability was Mercedes-Benz. 

Porsche placed highest for European makes and 2nd overall out of 32 manufacturers.

Rounding out the bottom of the list was Chrysler and its associated companies.  Chrysler had 192 PP100 and Dodge had 182 PP100, but to Dodge's defense, the company improved reliability by 23 PP100 from the previous report. 

Cadillac has the lowest component replacement rate of any manufacturer. 

Korean auto maker Hyundai placed its highest ever on the report, with the company placing in 9th overall.  The company's Genesis sedan took an award in the mid-size premium segment. 

Ford took home 3 awards with its Fusion, Lincoln MKZ (tied with Lexus' ES 350), and Explorer (tied with Nissan's Murano).  Cadillac had the lowest component replacement rate of any manufacturer and improved its score by 3 % compared to last year's report.  The domestic luxury brand also had a PP100 of 104. 

Overall, cars from the Japanese manufacturers had higher scores than cars from Europe and North America, however it is important to note that the domestic manufacturers have closed the gap in quality from 18 PP100 in 2011, to 13 PP100.  Out of the 32 manufacturers worldwide, 25 improved their reliability, while 6 dropped in quality and 1 remained the same. 

The list below from J.D. Power and Associates contains the winners and runner ups for reliability:

Sub Compact Car Toyota Yaris Scion xD Honda Fit Compact Car Toyota Prius Toyota Corolla Hyundai Elantra Compact Sporty Car Scion tC Mini Cooper Volkswagen GTI Midsize Car Ford Fusion Mitsubishi Galant Toyota Camry Large Car Buick Lucerne Toyota Avalon Ford Taurus Entry Premium Car Lexus ES 350 (tie) Lincoln MKZ (tie) Acura TL Midsize Premium Car Hyundai Genesis Mercedes-Benz E-Class Volvo S80

Compact Crossover/SUV Chevrolet Equinox Honda CR-V Toyota RAV4 Compact MPV Scion xB Chevrolet HHR Mazda 5 Midsize Crossover/SUV Ford Explorer (tie) Nissan Murano (tie) Toyota Highlander Midsize Premium Crossover/SUV Lexus RX 350 Lincoln MKX Mercedes-Benz M-Class Large Pickup Toyota Tundra GMC Sierra HD Chevrolet Silverado LD Midsize Pickup Nissan Frontier Ford Ranger Honda Ridgeline Midsize Van Toyota Sienna Honda Odyssey Dodge Grand Caravan