Lexus is #1 in Dependability for the Second Consecutive Year

The tests are in and the jury is out: Lexus ranks #1 in vehicle dependability for the second consecutive year! Lexus took the stage among all brands with an overall score of 135 (PP100) vs the industry average 190 in the J.D. Power 2024 U.S. Vehicle Dependability Study. The 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 examines how 2021 model-year vehicles are currently performing in terms of quality, component replacement and appeal—including those vehicles with new technology—and helps automotive manufacturers design and build better vehicles to stand the test of time and promote higher resale value. A lower PP100 indicates higher performance.

The parent corporation receiving the most model-level awards is Toyota Motor Corporation with nine: Lexus ES, Lexus IS, Lexus NX, Lexus RX, Toyota 4Runner, Toyota Camry, Toyota Corolla, Toyota Tacoma and Toyota Tundra. The study was redesigned in 2022 to include features and technology that are available in current vehicles. It now covers 184 specific problem  areas across nine major vehicle categories: climate; driving assistance; driving experience; exterior; features/controls/displays; infotainment; interior; powertrain; and seats.

Following are key findings of the 2024 study:

Infotainment system woes continue to plague owners: As vehicles roll off the assembly line with increasingly more technology, it is not unexpected that the most problematic vehicle category is infotainment (49.1 PP100)—nearly twice as many problems as the next-highest category, which is exterior. Among infotainment issues, 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 grows over time: The number of problems related to driver assistance system alerts has increased between the 90-day ownership period and the three-year ownership period. “Many would think that after three years, owners would become used to the alerts on their vehicle,” Hanley said. “However, that is not the case. Increased problem levels are experienced across multiple driver assistance features including, but not limited to, lane departure warning/lane keeping assistance and forward collision warning/automatic emergency braking.”

Electrified vehicles more problematic than others: Owners of battery electric vehicles (BEVs) and plug-in hybrid electric vehicles (PHEVs) experience more problems than owners of gas-powered and hybrid vehicles. 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 Motor Corporation wins most segment awards: Toyota Motor Corporation’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).