J.D. Power's 2022 Most Dependable CarsJ.D. Power's 2022 Most Dependable Cars

J.D. Power's annual survey looks back at the reliability of 2019 model cars over the last three years.

Dan Carney, Senior Editor

February 15, 2022

21 Slides
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Images courtesy of General Motors, Ford, Toyota, and Hyundai

J.D. Power & Co. is back with its annual survey of the most dependable cars for 2022. Rather than an evaluation of current models, this is a look back at the dependability demonstrated by 2019 cars and trucks over the last three years of use.

We’ve built a slide show highlighting the top-finishing vehicles in each of the product classes identified by J.D. Power, showing the top three except in cases where there were fewer than three contestants.

Looking at brands, the Korean brands of the Hyundai Motors Group, Hyundai, Kia, and Genesis, grabbed three of the top four spots, with Buick squeezing in at number two, between number one Kia and number three Genesis. They were followed by Toyota and its premium brand, Lexus.

These brand finishes foreshadow the scores for individual models, which saw vehicles from the Hyundai and Toyota groups top eight of the categories. General Motors scored five first-place finishes. Mainstream brands generally finished better than premium brands because the new technology that tends to debut on more expensive models is also typically the source of more customer complaints.

Indeed, seven of the top ten problem areas listed by customers are related to vehicles’ infotainment systems. The good news is that those aren’t the sort of problems that strand drivers at the side of a cold, dark highway. However, it is worth noting that one of these “problems” is dissatisfaction with the number of USB plugs in a vehicle.

Related:J.D. Power's Most Dependable Cars

The car had that number of plugs in it when the customer bought it, so to ding the manufacturer for that three years later as a source of dependability woes seems like a misapplication of the word “dependable.”

 

About the Author

Dan Carney

Senior Editor, Design News

Dan’s coverage of the auto industry over three decades has taken him to the racetracks, automotive engineering centers, vehicle simulators, wind tunnels, and crash-test labs of the world.

A member of the North American Car, Truck, and Utility of the Year jury, Dan also contributes car reviews to Popular Science magazine, serves on the International Engine of the Year jury, and has judged the collegiate Formula SAE competition.

Dan is a winner of the International Motor Press Association's Ken Purdy Award for automotive writing, as well as the National Motorsports Press Association's award for magazine writing and the Washington Automotive Press Association's Golden Quill award.

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He has held a Sports Car Club of America racing license since 1991, is an SCCA National race winner, two-time SCCA Runoffs competitor in Formula F, and an Old Dominion Region Driver of the Year award winner. Co-drove a Ford Focus 1.0-liter EcoBoost to 16 Federation Internationale de l’Automobile-accredited world speed records over distances from just under 1km to over 4,104km at the CERAM test circuit in Mortefontaine, France.

He was also a longtime contributor to the Society of Automotive Engineers' Automotive Engineering International magazine.

He specializes in analyzing technical developments, particularly in the areas of motorsports, efficiency, and safety.

He has been published in The New York Times, NBC News, Motor Trend, Popular Mechanics, The Washington Post, Hagerty, AutoTrader.com, Maxim, RaceCar Engineering, AutoWeek, Virginia Living, and others.

Dan has authored books on the Honda S2000 and Dodge Viper sports cars and contributed automotive content to the consumer finance book, Fight For Your Money.

He is a member and past president of the Washington Automotive Press Association and is a member of the Society of Automotive Engineers

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