This Is America’s Worst Car Brand

By Douglas A. McIntyre Published Jul 4, 12:00PM EDT

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The car industry has been transformed over the past three years. First, the COVID-19 pandemic robbed manufacturers and dealers of their potential customers, sometimes for months. Then, parts shortages began to undermine inventory levels. Lower inventory meant higher prices. Regardless of the problems car manufacturers faced, some continued to produce better cars than others, and America’s worst car brand is Chrysler.

One major problem the industry continues to face is part shortages. At the core of this problem is a low supply of the chips used in car electronics and infotainment systems. Car industry executives do not expect this problem to lessen until next year. Ironically, one of the primary complaints about modern cars is their complex driving and navigation systems. (These are the most popular cars in the world.)

The new J.D. Power U.S. Initial Quality Study for 2022 was just released. This is the 36th year it has been completed. Quality rankings dropped for most brands, and complex car technology was among the reasons. David Amodeo, director of global automotive at J.D. Power, commented: “Automakers continue to launch vehicles that are more and more technologically complex in an era in which there have been many shortages of critical components to support them.”

The new study is based on responses from 84,165 84,165 purchasers and lessees from February through May of this year of people who were driving 2022 model-year vehicles.

The survey has 223 questions, which are organized into nine categories: 1. infotainment, 2. features, controls and displays, 3. exterior, 4. driving assistance, 5. interior, 6. powertrain, 7. seats, 8. driving experience, and 9. climate.

Car brands were ranked on problems per 100 vehicles over the early period of ownership. Mass market cars averaged 175 problems. Premium cars averaged 196 problems. The reason for the higher number of problems is that premium cars have more complex technology, which has a tendency to have problems. The overall industry average was 180 problems per 100 vehicles.

The brand with the worst rating was Chrysler with 265 problems per 100 vehicles. The brand is owned by European auto giant Stellantis, which also owns Fiat, Jeep, Opel, Maserati, RAM, and Peugeot. Chrysler was once one of America’s largest independent car companies, founded by Walter Chrysler in 1925. (Also, see this is the longest lasting car on the road.)

Click here to see America’s worst car brand

33. Buick
> Problems per 100 vehicles: 139

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32. Dodge
> Problems per 100 vehicles: 143

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31. Chevrolet
> Problems per 100 vehicles: 147

30. Genesis
> Problems per 100 vehicles: 156 (tie)

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29. Kia
> Problems per 100 vehicles: 156 (tie)

28. Lexus
> Problems per 100 vehicles: 157

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27. GMC
> Problems per 100 vehicles: 162

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26. Cadillac
> Problems per 100 vehicles: 163

25. BMW
> Problems per 100 vehicles: 165

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Ford (CC BY 2.0) by Mike Mozart

24. Ford
> Problems per 100 vehicles: 167 (tie)

Lincoln (CC BY 2.0) by dave_7

23. Lincoln
> Problems per 100 vehicles: 167 (tie)

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22. Nissan
> Problems per 100 vehicles: 167 (tie)

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21. MINI
> Problems per 100 vehicles: 168

20. Toyota
> Problems per 100 vehicles: 172

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19. Mazda
> Problems per 100 vehicles: 180

18. Honda
> Problems per 100 vehicles: 183

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17. Hyundai
> Problems per 100 vehicles: 185

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2014 Ram 1500 ProMaster Tradesman SWB std roof front by Mr.choppers

2014 Ram 1500 ProMaster Tradesman SWB std roof front (CC BY-SA 3.0) by Mr.choppers

16. Ram
> Problems per 100 vehicles: 186

15. Mercedes-Benz
> Problems per 100 vehicles: 189

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14. Subaru
> Problems per 100 vehicles: 191

13. Acura
> Problems per 100 vehicles: 192

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12. Land Rover
> Problems per 100 vehicles: 193

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11. Jeep
> Problems per 100 vehicles: 199

10. Porsche
> Problems per 100 vehicles: 200

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9. Infiniti Motor Company
> Problems per 100 vehicles: 204

2015 Jaguar F-Type S V6 AWD Automatic 3.0 Front by Vauxford

2015 Jaguar F-Type S V6 AWD Automatic 3.0 Front (CC BY-SA 4.0) by Vauxford

8. Jaguar
> Problems per 100 vehicles: 210

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7. Alfa Romeo
> Problems per 100 vehicles: 211

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6. Mitsubishi
> Problems per 100 vehicles: 226

5. Volkswagen
> Problems per 100 vehicles: 230

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4. Audi
> Problems per 100 vehicles: 239

3. Maserati
> Problems per 100 vehicles: 255

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2. Volvo
> Problems per 100 vehicles: 256

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1. Chrysler
> Problems per 100 vehicles: 265

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.