Lexus tops J.D. Power dependability rankings for 5th straight year

For the fifth year in a row, Lexus is the auto industry’s most dependable brand after three years of ownership, while Buick is the highest-ranking marque among domestic and nonluxury brands for the second consecutive year, according to J.D. Power.

Lexus, Porsche, Buick, Toyota and GMC were the top five scorers in Power’s 2016 U.S. Vehicle Dependability Study released today.

GMC (fifth place), Acura (tied for eighth) and Ram (tied for eighth) moved into the top 10 this year. Cadillac, Mercedes-Benz and Toyota’s soon-to-be-discontinued Scion brand dropped out of the top 10.

Cadillac slipped 11 spots to 15th place, Mercedes dropped four to 12th place, and Scion tumbled 15 to 24th place -- the biggest dip in the rankings of any brand. 

Chevrolet, Honda, Acura, Ram and Lincoln rounded out the top 10, giving domestic brands five spots in the group. In 2015, four domestic brands made the top 10, while three did in 2014. 

The lowest-ranking brands were Dodge, Ford, Smart, Land Rover and Jeep.

At the manufacturer level, Toyota, General Motors, Honda, Daimler and BMW led the way. GM paced the industry with eight segment award winners, while Toyota followed with six winners.

The study, based on responses from 33,560 original owners of 2013 cars and light trucks among 32 brands, tracks problems experienced during the past 12 months.

Dependability is determined by the number of problems experienced per 100 vehicles, with lower scores indicating higher quality. Feedback for the study was gathered between October and December 2015.

Overall, the auto industry had dependability decline. The industry average of 152 problems per 100 vehicles was up from 147 in 2015.

Power says Scion, Nissan, Cadillac and Mazda took the biggest hits in the study largely because they launched new vehicles in the 2013 model year.

Gainers

Among brands that scored at or above the industry average, Volvo had the biggest improvement.

Volvo, with 152 problems per 100 vehicles, cut 22 problems per 100 vehicles from its score. Porsche, with 97 problems per 100 vehicles surveyed, bettered its score by 19, while Ram, with 129 problems per 100 vehicles tracked, trimmed five problems from its score.

The number of problems that dogged Buick (106), Audi, (134) and BMW (142) improved by four at each brand.

Trust issues

Infotainment, navigation and in-vehicle communications systems continue to be a collective sore spot for automakers, the study found.

Issues with phone-pairing and voice commands could have far-reaching implications when it comes to consumer trust of future technologies such as autonomous vehicles.

If consumers believe that automakers can’t get everyday features right, Power says, people could lose confidence in the industry’s ability to produce safe self-driving vehicles in the years ahead, which are much more complicated undertakings.

For owners who reported problems with voice recognition, 67 percent said the glitches stemmed from phones that did not recognize or misinterpreted verbal commands.

Among owners experiencing Bluetooth/connectivity hiccups, 53 percent said the vehicles “didn’t find/recognize their mobile phone/device.”

“They’re having trouble enough with pairing their phone or getting voice recognition to work properly,” Dave Sargent, vice president of global automotive at J.D. Power, said in an interview Tuesday. “So the idea of a fully autonomous car when they’re having problems with less sophisticated technology, for consumers, it’s a little bit scary.”

Design problems

When consumers are still having trouble with a feature after a month of ownership, Sargent says, some just give up on it.

In many cases, especially with voice recognition, there’s no quick fix to get a feature to work because the technology is operating as intended.

Consumers could go to dealerships to get training on how to speak when giving commands, but Sargent says they don’t want to do that. He said people want to be able to speak naturally when using voice-activated systems.

“With a lot of these technology problems, there’s no fix per se,” Sargent said. “The dealer can’t swap out a component and suddenly everything’s going to be working because the component is working exactly as designed. There’s nothing technically wrong with it.”