According to automobile industry research firm J.D. Power & Associates, a division of The McGraw-Hill Companies Inc. (NYSE: MHP), dependability ratings on 2009 cars after three years on the road have hit an all-time high. The 2012 dependability rating averaged 132 problems per 100 vehicles, an improvement of 19 problems per 100 vehicles from the 2011 study.
The Lexus brand, from Toyota Motor Corp. (NYSE: TM), has regained the top spot from Ford Motor Co.’s (NYSE: F) Lincoln, which topped the list in 2011. The other top ten brands were Porsche, Cadillac, Toyota, Scion, Mercedes-Benz, Lincoln, Ford, Buick and Hyundai.
No vehicle brand tallied more than 192 problems per 100 vehicles. According to a J.D. Power vice-president, “There are no really bad vehicles anymore.”
That’s a good thing because drivers are holding onto their cars longer. The average age of a vehicle now is 10.8 years, compared with 8.9 years just ten years ago.
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