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Special Report

America’s Most (and Least) Reliable Car Brands

Photo of Douglas A. McIntyre
By Douglas A. McIntyre Updated Published
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Car dependability is one of the leading considerations when buying a car. But what are the most dependable car brands, and which are the least? To help address this question, consumer research companies release their findings each year.

JD Power is the preeminent provider of American auto research. It releases three studies a year, the most recent of which is the 2016 Automobile Dependability Study. This research is based on interviews with 33,560 individuals, covering all 2013 model year vehicles. The rank is based on the number of problems per 100 vehicles and ranges from 95 problems for Lexus vehicles to 208 for Dodge. This year, the study covered 32 brands.

Consumer Reports, part of a non-profit consumer research company, releases another important measure of car quality. The Consumer Reports data cover 30 brands based on performance, reliability, safety performance and active safety aids, and owner satisfaction. While there are exceptions, many of the cars that rate poorly for dependability in the JD Power study also tend to rate poorly in this overall measure.

Click here to see America’s most (and least) reliable car brands.

24/7 Wall St reviewed both sets of data using the JD Power study to create the ranking. Consumer Reports data were added along with 2015 sales by brand and a comparison with 2014 sales.

These are the America’s most (and least) reliable car brands.

Lexus
http://www.lexus.com/

1. Lexus
J.D. Power problems per 100 vehicles: 95
Consumer Reports overall quality: 76
2015 sales: 344,601
Sales chg. 2014-2015 : 10.7%

Porsche
https://newsroom.porsche.com/

2. Porsche
J.D. Power problems per 100 vehicles: 97
Consumer Reports overall quality: 76
2015 sales: 51,756
Sales chg. 2014-2015 : 10.1%

[nativounit]

2015-Buick-Enclave
buick.com

3. Buick
J.D. Power problems per 100 vehicles: 106
Consumer Reports overall quality: 74
2015 sales: 228,963
Sales chg. 2014-2015 : 11.4%

Toyota, Sequoia
toyota.com

4. Toyota
J.D. Power problems per 100 vehicles: 113
Consumer Reports overall quality: 72
2015 sales: 2,154,712
Sales chg. 2014-2015 : 4.5%

[recirclink id=314499]

GMC, Savana
gmc.com

5. GMC
J.D. Power problems per 100 vehicles: 120
Consumer Reports overall quality: 60
2015 sales: 501,853
Sales chg. 2014-2015 : 11.3%

Chevrolet
chevrolet.com

6. Chevrolet
J.D. Power problems per 100 vehicles: 125
Consumer Reports overall quality: 64
2015 sales: 2,033,442
Sales chg. 2014-2015 : 4.4%

Honda
http://automobiles.honda.com/

7. Honda
J.D. Power problems per 100 vehicles: 126
Consumer Reports overall quality: 71
2015 sales: 1,409,386
Sales chg. 2014-2015 : 2.6%

[nativounit]

Ram
ramtrucks.com

8. Ram
J.D. Power problems per 100 vehicles: 129
Consumer Reports overall quality: ..
2015 sales: 493,807
Sales chg. 2014-2015 : 5.0%

Acura
acura.com

9. Acura
J.D. Power problems per 100 vehicles: 129
Consumer Reports overall quality: 64
2015 sales: 177,165
Sales chg. 2014-2015 : 5.6%

[recirclink id=316000]

LIncoln
lincoln.com

10. Lincoln
J.D. Power problems per 100 vehicles: 132
Consumer Reports overall quality: 65
2015 sales: 101,227
Sales chg. 2014-2015 : 7.1%

Audi S8 Sedan 4D
audiusa.com

11. Audi
J.D. Power problems per 100 vehicles: 134
Consumer Reports overall quality: 80
2015 sales: 202,202
Sales chg. 2014-2015 : 11.1%

Mercedes-Benz GL-Class GL63 AMG Sport Utility 4D
mbusa.com

12. Mercedes-Benz
J.D. Power problems per 100 vehicles: 135
Consumer Reports overall quality: 67
2015 sales: 343,088
Sales chg. 2014-2015 : 3.8%

[recirclink id=316031]

Infiniti
infinitiusa.com

13. Infiniti
J.D. Power problems per 100 vehicles: 136
Consumer Reports overall quality: 63
2015 sales: 133,498
Sales chg. 2014-2015 : 13.8%

BMW X6 M Sport Utility 4D
bmwusa.com

14. BMW
J.D. Power problems per 100 vehicles: 142
Consumer Reports overall quality: 76
2015 sales: 346,023
Sales chg. 2014-2015 : 1.8%

[nativounit]

Cadillac CTS
cadillac.com

15. Cadillac
J.D. Power problems per 100 vehicles: 145
Consumer Reports overall quality: 58
2015 sales: 170,750
Sales chg. 2014-2015 : -6.5%

Volvo XC90
courtesy of Volvo Cars of North America

16. Volvo
J.D. Power problems per 100 vehicles: 152
Consumer Reports overall quality: 69
2015 sales: 70,047
Sales chg. 2014-2015 : 24.3%

17. Kia
J.D. Power problems per 100 vehicles: 153
Consumer Reports overall quality: 72
2015 sales: 625,818
Sales chg. 2014-2015 : 7.9%

[recirclink id=315710]

Mini
miniusa.com

18. MINI
J.D. Power problems per 100 vehicles: 155
Consumer Reports overall quality: 68
2015 sales: 58,514
Sales chg. 2014-2015 : 4.3%

Hyundai Veloster
hyundaiusa.com

19. Hyundai
J.D. Power problems per 100 vehicles: 158
Consumer Reports overall quality: 70
2015 sales: 761,710
Sales chg. 2014-2015 : 5.0%

[nativounit]

Mitsubishi
mitsubishicars.com

20. Mitsubishi
J.D. Power problems per 100 vehicles: 161
Consumer Reports overall quality: 51
2015 sales: 95,342
Sales chg. 2014-2015 : 22.8%

Mazda3
mazdausa.com

21. Mazda
J.D. Power problems per 100 vehicles: 163
Consumer Reports overall quality: 74
2015 sales: 319,184
Sales chg. 2014-2015 : 4.4%

Chrysler
chrysler.com

22. Chrysler
J.D. Power problems per 100 vehicles: 165
Consumer Reports overall quality: 58
2015 sales: 324,846
Sales chg. 2014-2015 : 5.0%

[nativounit]

Subaru Impreza
subaru.com

23. Subaru
J.D. Power problems per 100 vehicles: 166
Consumer Reports overall quality: 78
2015 sales: 582,675
Sales chg. 2014-2015 : 13.4%

Scion iA
scion.com

24. Scion
J.D. Power problems per 100 vehicles: 167
Consumer Reports overall quality: 65
2015 sales: 56,167
Sales chg. 2014-2015 : -3.2%

[recirclink id=316766]

Volkswagen Passat
vw.com

25. Volkswagen
J.D. Power problems per 100 vehicles: 169
Consumer Reports overall quality: 67
2015 sales: 366,970
Sales chg. 2014-2015 : -4.8%

FIAT 500 Pop
fiatusa.com

26. Fiat
J.D. Power problems per 100 vehicles: 171
Consumer Reports overall quality: 38
2015 sales: 42,410
Sales chg. 2014-2015 : -8.0%

Nissan, Armada
nissanusa.com

27. Nissan
J.D. Power problems per 100 vehicles: 173
Consumer Reports overall quality: 63
2015 sales: 1,351,420
Sales chg. 2014-2015 : 6.4%

[nativounit]

2014 Jeep Cherokee
Chrysler Group LLC

28. Jeep
J.D. Power problems per 100 vehicles: 181
Consumer Reports overall quality: 43
2015 sales: 865,028
Sales chg. 2014-2015 : 25.0%

Land Rover
landroverusa.com

29. Land Rover
J.D. Power problems per 100 vehicles: 198
Consumer Reports overall quality: 55
2015 sales: 70,582
Sales chg. 2014-2015 : 37.0%

[recirclink id=314472]

Smart car
smartusa.com

30. smart
J.D. Power problems per 100 vehicles: 199
Consumer Reports overall quality: ..
2015 sales: 7,484
Sales chg. 2014-2015 : -28.4%

2016 Ford F-150 Limited
courtesy of Ford Motor Co.

31. Ford
J.D. Power problems per 100 vehicles: 204
Consumer Reports overall quality: 66
2015 sales: 2,511,935
Sales chg. 2014-2015 : 5.3%

Dodge
dodge.com

32. Dodge
J.D. Power problems per 100 vehicles: 208
Consumer Reports overall quality: 58
2015 sales: 517,153
Sales chg. 2014-2015 : -10.0%

Photo of Douglas A. McIntyre
About the Author Douglas A. McIntyre →

Douglas A. McIntyre is the co-founder, chief executive officer and editor in chief of 24/7 Wall St. and 24/7 Tempo. He has held these jobs since 2006.

McIntyre has written thousands of articles for 24/7 Wall St. He is an expert on corporate finance, the automotive industry, media companies and international finance. He has edited articles on national demographics, sports, personal income and travel.

His work has been quoted or mentioned in The New York Times, The Wall Street Journal, Los Angeles Times, The Washington Post, NBC News, Time, The New Yorker, HuffPost USA Today, Business Insider, Yahoo, AOL, MarketWatch, The Atlantic, Bloomberg, New York Post, Chicago Tribune, Forbes, The Guardian and many other major publications. McIntyre has been a guest on CNBC, the BBC and television and radio stations across the country.

A magna cum laude graduate of Harvard College, McIntyre also was president of The Harvard Advocate. Founded in 1866, the Advocate is the oldest college publication in the United States.

TheStreet.com, Comps.com and Edgar Online are some of the public companies for which McIntyre served on the board of directors. He was a Vicinity Corporation board member when the company was sold to Microsoft in 2002. He served on the audit committees of some of these companies.

McIntyre has been the CEO of FutureSource, a provider of trading terminals and news to commodities and futures traders. He was president of Switchboard, the online phone directory company. He served as chairman and CEO of On2 Technologies, the video compression company that provided video compression software for Adobe’s Flash. Google bought On2 in 2009.

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