Lexus Takes Gold In 2015 JD Power Dependability Study

Cameron Aubernon
by Cameron Aubernon

For the fourth consecutive year, Lexus is tops among the brands ranked in JD Power’s annual Vehicle Dependability Study.

The research group says owners of the premium brand’s offerings reported 89 problems per 100 vehicles. However, its parent company was bumped down to third place on the podium this year by Buick, the latter making a huge leap from fifth place in 2014 to take silver with 110 problems per 100 vehicles reported. Toyota had one more problem compared to Buick.

Among the rest, Cadillac took home fourth, while Honda and Porsche tied for fifth. Lincoln, Mercedes-Benz, Scion and Chevrolet round out the top 10 for 2015, while Land Rover and Fiat landed at the bottom of the list with 258 and 273 problems per 100 vehicles, respectively.

As for the problems themselves, most took issue with their vehicle’s Bluetooth and voice-recognition systems, followed by problems with the vehicle’s engine or transmission, the latter mostly focused on “automatic transmission hesitation and rough shifting.”

This year’s study surveyed over 34,000 original owners of 2012 models after three years of ownership, with the survey taking place between November and December of 2014.

Cameron Aubernon
Cameron Aubernon

Seattle-based writer, blogger, and photographer for many a publication. Born in Louisville. Raised in Kansas. Where I lay my head is home.

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  • Sjalabais Sjalabais on Feb 26, 2015

    Maybe someone with insight into the JD Powers logic and methodology can help me out. I'm stunned by Volvo's dismal performance. Volvo does extraordinarily well in the JD Powers Vehicle Ownership Satisfaction Study (VOSS). The JD Powers US Initial Quality Study (IQS) - not so good. The dependability study above - sad stuff. Why would there be such a discrepancy?

    • See 3 previous
    • Sjalabais Sjalabais on Feb 27, 2015

      @Pch101 Yes, they are #3 in Germany, behind Toyota and Mazda. http://www.autobild.de/artikel/exklusiv-auto-bild-qualitaetsreport-2014-5493657.html It is the discrepancy I can't wrap my head around. Yes, Americans drive more, yet sorting reliability tables by mileage is the one thing you can do to improve Volvo's standing in European tables. So...where do the issues originate?

  • Kevin Jaeger Kevin Jaeger on Feb 26, 2015

    Congrats to Lexus for coming out on top again. They may not be the first to introduce new technology in their cars but they are obviously doing something right to maintain their reputation for dependability. And this is useful for people to grasp the order of magnitude in the gap between brands. That dependable Acura is doing well with an average of 1.24 problems per owner, while those poor Audi owners are enduring the horrendous experience of suffering through an average of 0.14 more than that content Acura owner. It would be nice if those constantly harping on this real but small difference had some sense of perspective.

  • V8fairy Not scared, but I would be reluctant to put my trust in it. The technology is just not quite there yet
  • V8fairy Headlights that switch on/off with the ignition - similar to the requirement that Sweden has- lights must run any time the car is on.Definitely knobs and buttons, touchscreens should only be for navigation and phone mirroring and configuration of non essential items like stereo balance/ fade etc>Bagpipes for following too close.A following distance warning system - I'd be happy to see made mandatory. And bagpipes would be a good choice for this, so hard to put up with!ABS probably should be a mandatory requirementI personally would like to have blind spot monitoring, although should absolutely NOT be mandatory. Is there a blind spot monitoring kit that could be rerofitted to a 1980 Cadillac?
  • IBx1 A manual transmission
  • Bd2 All these inane posts (often referencing Hyundai, Kia) the past week are by "Anal" who has been using my handle, so just ignore them...
  • 3-On-The-Tree I was disappointed that when I bought my 2002 Suzuki GSX1300R that the Europeans put a mandatory speed limiter on it from 197mph down to 186mph for the 2002 year U.S models.
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